Close the Loop, Mad Genius
by Adamant39
Summary: Suzuha and Mayuri vanish into the past, and Reading Steiner leaves Okabe in the Steins;Gate worldline. With...no idea what this world's him spent the last year doing. Which would be difficult enough, except that Suzuha is once more on his roof with more tasks to clean up, and Leskinin is acting fishy, and hold on, how does time travel work again? Epiloge to S;G0. OkabeXKurisu, duh.
1. The Switch (You killed my AI?)

**The following is a combination of a fiction and a platform to vent what I have finally constructed about the time travel system in this show. Please enjoy seven or so weekly chapters of what I hope is a fun epilogue story after the events of Steins;Gate 0, followed by AN explanations afterwards about where I got my information. Some is fact, some is headcanon, lots is extrapolated _from _what we see in the show. **

**If you want a better understanding of the time travel in this show, or just to read more about these characters being hilarious, then keep scrolling.**

* * *

**Close the Loop, Mad Scientist**

* * *

**The Switch (_You _killed my A.I?)**

* * *

**AD 2011.07.07 20:32:56**

Hououin Kyouma laughed. This was something he had quite the history of doing, though when it was done in the middle of the lab to an uninterested audience, it lost some of its lustre.

Then again, Superman managed to be awe-inspiring and heroic while flying and catching planes, but sit him down at a dinner table with a cup of ramen and he'd look absolutely ridiculous.

In the same way, stood in the sunset in front of a hole-where-there-once-was-a-time-machine, flanked by two armed women in black cat suits as the wind whipped the smoke up into a frenzy, Kyouma and his laugh took on a whole new level of dramatic flair.

He was _loving_ it.

"What the hell are you talking about!" Leskinen shouted at him, brandishing a pistol. "What is 'Steins:Gate'? Who was on that time machine? Where did it go?"

Hououin Kyouma lowered his head and grinned. "Why do you care?"

"W-What?"

"Why do you care?" Hououin spread his arms and laughed again. "That time machine has fled into the past, it's mission to activate the ultimate implement of chaos this world has ever produced. _Me_. Not that it matters! Nothing we do matters anymore, isn't it liberating?"

"Oh really?" Leskinen did something to the pistol, possibly removing the safety. Okabe didn't know, he'd only held a gun once in any of his lives. "So if I shoot you in the head right now, it won't matter?"

"But of course!" Leskinen looked shocked by the frank admission, as Kyouma sauntered forwards, patting each of his bodyguards on the shoulders as he walked past them. "We're done now! Mission complete! El Psy Congro! The time machine has gone, and the moment it arrives in the past the timeline will change once again, rewriting everything!" He span in place, laughing harder. "Can't you see, 'professor'? None of this is happening, none of it ever even has! _We're not here_, Leskinen, and the only evidence of this ever existing will be in the memories of the mad scientist, Hououin Kyouma!"

"You're insane!" Leskinen shouted, walking up and putting his gun to Okabe's head. "I'll kill you!"

Kyouma just grinned, and waved off Moeka and Kagari who had trained their own firearms at Leskinen. "By all means, if you so desire! I happen to know full well that I'll survive in this timeline until at least 2025, but if you think you can kill me, be my guest! Cling to the last vestiges of your agency!" Hououin pressed his forehead against the barrel of the gun, without a shred of fear in his mind."Take the shot, Alexis. I will see you in Steins;Gate."

Leskinen grimaced, his finger tightened on the trigger-

And the world exploded into static, neon numbers, and worldlines.

* * *

**AD 2011.07.07 20:34:21**

"...be? Hello, earth to Okabe? Are you even listening to me?"

Okabe blinked, coming back to himself. He was on a couch. A couch...in the lab. Time of day was still evening, that was good, consistent with the sideways jump of sending a Dmail. The timeline changed around him without him moving in it. And in front of him, leaning over him with a pot of dessert in one hand and a threatening spoon in the other...

"Makise Kurisu?" He asked, making sure.

She stood up and turned around, "Daru, note that down! What is it, four days since he last used my real name? That's gotta be the shortest since I last came back from America, right?"

"Hold on, let me click the counter-" Sat at his PC, Daru opened up a program and pressed a button. "Yup, three days, eighteen hours. That's impressive, usually it's five to seven days..."

"Really? Huh." Kurisu turned back to Okabe with a mockingly thoughtful expression. "Odd that you manage to remember my name, while forgetting which puddings Do Not Belong To You. Or is there only so much room in that little brain of yours? Have to let some info out before you can add more in?"

_That's definitely Kurisu's brain_... Okabe stood up and poked Makise in the forehead, meriting an outraged "Hey!" In response.

_And a real body. It's her alright. Makise Kurisu...is alive._

"Hack!" Okabe declared, pointing at Daru. "Give me a body count, on the double!"

"Body count?" Daru blinked up at him. "What are you smoking?"

"Allow me to be plainer; are any of the current lab members one through ten dead?"

"Dead? Jesus dude." Daru leaned back in his chair. "Well you're here, I'm here-"

"I'm here too! Dut-duru!" Okabe looked down, to where Mayuri had just announced herself from the sofa.

He gave her a relieved, warm smile. _Thank god. That's the main two, but just in case..._

"Uh, Miss Makise's here, we both saw Fayris and Ruka today, and Moeka was texting me just this morning." Daru continued. "The only one left is whoever owns the pin you shoved in the back of the closet. You know, the one who you don't think is gonna show up for six more years? And I don't know who the hell nine and ten are."

"Oh boy, what's he doing now..."

Okabe turned, and saw Maho sat on the floor, giant mane of green hair included, and _okay, paying attention now, who's actually in my lab?_

He span in place and did a head count, actually paying attention to his surroundings this time. _Myself, Makise, Daru, Mayuri, Maho, and...Professor Leskinen? Wait, how does he-No, calm down. If I'm right then he's not out for us in this worldline. He certainly shouldn't have Kagari._

"Ah, of course. I have yet to inform you all." He pointed. "Maho the Miniature!"

"_What_ did you just call me?"

"I hereby declare you lab member double-oh-nine!" He gave her a low bow, which made her cheeks redden and seemed to overwrite his previous name calling. "Welcome to the team. Now, oh-ten probably won't exist for quite some time. I suppose I never did officially indict Kagari, I shall have to have more badges made...ah, Professor Leskinen! I apologise but I cannot in good conscience offer you a position at present; I imagine the reason why will become apparent enough in the near future."

"Oh I don't mind!" Laughed the scientist, in his poor Japanese that was definitely faked. "I have my own lab back in the states." He gave Okabe a curious look. "Are you alright, Lintahlo? You seem a lot more on edge than you did a minute ago."

Okabe chuckled. "On edge? Not at all, professor, I am positively euphoric!"

Makise snorted. "Well that's more than a little creepy."

"Silence, Christina!"

"Oh good, we're back to that..."

"Ladies and gentlemen..." Rintarou threw his arms wide, grinning from ear to ear. _Finally...after all this time..._ "It is official! We have achieved Steins;Gate!"

"...Uh, yeah. We know."

"Ngh." Okabe turned to Daru with a _look, _but the hacker just shrugged.

"What? You've been saying that time after time since last year when you got back from your little trip with Suzuha. We get it, dude, operation Skuld was a success, no need to blurt it out at random moments."

"Please ignore him when he's like this, professor." Maho facepalmed. "His 'Hoeing Coma' mode switches on sometimes and we have no idea how to turn it off."

Okabe sagged, as Mayuri and the professor both laughed. _Right. As far as they remember, this all wrapped up back last year. Which means Mayuri's trip back to motivate me must have worked in some capacity, as evidenced by Makise surviving. However I did manage to save them both...Oh well. Time to do what I always do; bluster through on false confidence and false madness!_

He took in a breath and prepared to retort.

"Listen well double-oh-nine, the first-Ow! What are you-Ow!"

Before he could get into the rant, Makise grabbed him by the ear, and bodily yanked him back to the staircase.

"...So am I ever gonna know what that was about?" Chuckled Leskinen, lightheartedly.

"Oh, that's easy!" Mayuri smiled. "He's talking about the time he time travelled!"

* * *

"Ow-Ow-Ow, Okay, enough with the ear pulling!" Once on the roof, Makise finally let go of Okabe, allowing him to stagger backwards, rubbing his ear and pouting at her. "That was hardly necessary!"

"I figured I'd at least try and stop you making a fool of yourself." Kurisu crosses her arms and stared at him. "Alright, level with me. What you did back there...was that your Reading Steiner thing?"

He gave her a sideways look. "What gives you that idea?"

"Well, you've explained before how it works." She shrugged. "Not that you've ever actually _shown_ me these magic time travel powers of yours...but I just had this weird feeling. Like it was something I'd seen you do before."

He nodded, slowly. _That will be her own Reading Steiner then. The dreams and deja-vu everyone else seems to get when confronted with timelines changing_."Hmph. You always were able to read me like a book..."

"So it is true?" Her face lit up with interest. "Then why now? You told me you've trashed all your time travel equipment, why are the worldlines changing?"

"First." Okabe held up a hand, stopping her. "Explain to me everything that's happened since we met. How did you survive the stabbing? How did Maho and Leskinen end up involved? Did Amadeus have something to do with it?"

"Alright, slow down!" Makise thought about it. "Well, the first time we met was on the day of my father's conference. You showed up acting insane, rambling about needing to save me. Then you actually _did_ save me. You taunted my father into stabbing you, and then after he left you knocked me out with a damn taser."

_So that's how I ended up saving her? Yes, I can see how that might have worked. Fooling past me into thinking she was dead. That would mean that when I shifted things onto that worldline, I would have _thought _she was dead while in reality she was walking around just fine_. He nodded and gestured. "Continue, please."

"Well, we next met a few weeks after that, on the streets by accident." Makise recounted. "I was understandably pretty conflicted about seeing you. I've mentioned this to you before, but since you've apparently forgot; waking up in a pool of blood is _not_ a nice experience."

He gulped. "Noted."

"But, there was something...familiar about you. You were able to convince me to come to the lab, gave me this..." she flashed the lapel of her cardigan, where a small gold pin was visible, "and, well, I got invested. I still had my schooling in America, but I came back here just about every chance I had. Pretty soon you all spilled the beans about this whole 'time travel adventure' you supposedly had. I was skeptical, obviously, especially since you were the only one who seemed to know the whole story. But everyone in the lab could tell me something about gelnanas, weird texts, and a damn time machine appearing on the roof to whisk you away for a few minutes, pop you back with a massive hole in your chest, and vanish again.

I don't think that Mayuri would ever lie to me, and again, everything just seemed to...check out, with my internal logic filter. When you first explained it to me, I was totally invested for about five minutes before I remembered no sane person should be believing you. You blamed that on your whatchucallit,"

"Reading Steiner." Okabe nodded. "Just about everyone gets flashes of some kind. Though as far as we've found, I'm the only one who remembers all of the previous timeline and none of the new one."

"Right. So I stayed, people got along, you started paying actual attention to your schoolwork, you and I..." she stopped, blushed, and continued, "and, uh, eventually you met Maho and Professor Leskinen while they were here about the Amadeus program. You got into quite a few arguments with the Makise inside your phone, let me tell you..."

Okabe frowned. "There was an Amadeus Makise? I thought the data for that was destroyed?"

"Well, obviously we redid the process after the first time the files went...missing..." she frowned and stared at him. "Wait a minute, I never told you about the security breach."

"Well, moving on-"

"Which means you got that memory from your timeline..." her eyes widened. "You _bastard_! You were the one who hacked in and deleted it?"

"Uh, Daru, actually-"

"Do you have any goddamn idea how much time and money it takes to transcribe a _human brain_ onto a computer?" She stalked towards him, cracking her knuckles. "You set us back _months_!"

"It was necessary! The fate of the world was at stake!" Okabe tried to defend himself as she grabbed him by the front of his lab coat.

"How could my A.I have possibly-"

"It had your time travel thesis in its memory! America hacked you to get a hold of it so they could compete with Russia! Of course I suppose it doesn't matter in this timeline since said thesis never _got_ to Russia, but it was still necessary to slow them down enough for Suzuha and Mayuri to get off the roof!"

"Thesis-Roof, wait, what?" She let go of him and stepped back. "You've never told me about any of this before."

"Because the Okabe you've been talking to never had it happen to him." He smiled weakly. "To me, it's not even history. Not ten minutes ago I was beating DURPA and StratFor off the roof of the radio building with a proverbial stick."

"Alright, now you've got to tell me _your_ story." She refolded her arms. "What on earth have you been up to in this alternate timeline of yours? And how does it fit into everything else?"

Okabe blew out a breath, trying to find a way to summarise his year of moping, Kagari, and his trip to and from an apocalyptic future. "Well, I suppose it all started when-"

He was interrupted by a flash of light.

He and Makise both turned to look as a giant glowing shape materialised in front of them on the rooftop.

The flash cut out, and Okabe immediately recognised the central cylinder and two extending panels. _What the...what is _she _doing here?_

The doors to the time machine opened.

"What's up, uncle Okarin." Grinned Suzuha Amane. "Long time no see."

* * *

**First conclusion: Okabe's Reading Steiner means that he basically has one long stream of consciousness through all his worldline jumping. Logically, this means that when the timeline changes back to Steins;Gate from WWIII, Okabe would Read Steiner across, keeping his Zero memories but losing everything from Mayuri's slap up to the present. Ain't that weird?**

**Next chapter; what on Earth is Suzuha doing here? Well, here's a little teaser I'll have to explain to you then:**

**Everything we saw in the first half of episode one of Steins;Gate _Didn't Happen_. And there's proof.**


	2. Missing (Most People need a Flowchart)

**Missing (Most People need a Flowchart)**

* * *

**AD 2011.07.07 20:43:28**

"Time travel?" Leskinen asked, suddenly paying rather close attention to Mayuri. "What do you mean?"

"Uh, Nothing!" Daru said, very loudly, voice cracking. "When she says time travel, sheee meant that Okabe had a good time travelling! With his perfectly normal friend Suzuha-"

"Don't worry Daru!" Mayuri told him, with her ever present smile. "Okabe says that Maho is part of the lab now, and the professor will be soon! That means we can trust them!"

"Hold on, time travel?" Maho looked at her. "Is this him time travelling in the same way you're his hostage or Daru is a 'supah hackah?'"

"Hey, I can hack! Lady if you had any idea..."

"Nope!" Mayuri replied. "Real time travel! This lady called Suzuha showed up on the roof of the radio building in a time machine! And she said 'I'm from 2036! Okarin needs to come with me to save the future!' And he went, and he saved Makise's life!"

"Saved her life?" Leskinen blinked. "He did that with time travel?"

"Apparently! I mean none of us had ever met Makise before, but then he went back in time and then she walked up into the lab the next day!"

"Well that part's a coincidence, if he _did_ save her then she'll have been alive the whole time..." Daru paused in his correction, then coughed. "Not, uh, not that that's what actually happened..."

"I've seen Okabe do some pretty crazy things, I gotta admit." Maho leaned backwards, smiling. "But I'm gonna need to see some proof of him managing _time travel_."

"Now now, lets not downplay him." Leskinen looked down at the floor, expression unreadable. "If you told me that time travel was possible, and asked me who pulled it off? I'd bet all my money it was the two that just went up onto that roof."

* * *

"What in the..." Kurisu briefly dropped out of Japanese to voice a slew of swear words in English as she slowly backed away from Suzuha.

"Ah, yes, I forgot, Christina hasn't seen a time machine in this timeline." Okabe mused. "Fear not, assistant. It doesn't bite. Though the woman walking out of it certainly might..."

"You see me appear on your roof in a blaze of light and your first order of business is to start mocking Kurisu? Glad to see your priorities are still the same." Suzuha walked up and, to Okabe's great surprise, wrapped him up in a hug. "Good to see you've recovered. Sorry, I last saw you about thirty minutes ago, and you were covered in your own blood. Though...you don't remember that, right?"

"That's quite enough touchy feely, thank you..." he delicately pried her off. "And no. And also, why are you here? Your job should be done if we saved Kurisu successfully, right?"

"'Kurisu' is right here." Makise pointed out. "And is this really the girl who helped you into the past to-"

"Yes, yes, catch up as quick as you can, you're supposed to be the genius." Okabe waved her off. "Well, Suzuha?"

"Well..." She stretched. "I might have implied to you that I would just vanish, but in actuality I have one last job I need to fulfil before I can head back to the future. I'm here to take Mayuri back in time to just before your failed attempt to save Kurisu, to give herself a good old fashioned motivational speech!"

"What?" Okabe blinked. "But you already did that! You set off from the radio building not half an hour ago in..."

"In the other timeline." Suzuha finished. She sighed. "Oh, boy, you know usually it's _you_ explaining to _me_ how this works...okay, have you ever read the third Harry Potter book?"

"I have!" Makise offered, while Okabe just made a dumb face.

"Right, they're not so big outside of the west yet." Suzuha backed up to take a seat on the steps to her machine.

"Okay, so. Imagine someone, person A, who was in a really mortal situation. They're about to die, but one of their friends (B) sacrifices themselves to protect them. This person, A, constructs a time machine, and goes back in time to save himself in the past, so B doesn't have to die. Now, do you notice the problem?"

"There's two of him." Makise offered. "The A from both timelines are both hanging around at the same time."

"And the A who came back is from a different timeline." Okabe chipped in. "Even if he tried to go back to the future, his timeline doesn't exist anymore. It's not like he can vanish anywhere."

"You got it." Suzuha nodded. "So what happens? Well, given that we know changing the timeline is possible, there's a few options, all related to how the universe deals with the grandfather paradox or our little test with A and B. Option one is what we call Addition. 'A' from the nasty future and 'A' from the nice present are there in the new timeline together, no issues, no complications. And you can kill your grandfather, change to a timeline where you're never born, and still be there. That's a little worrying, because it means it's possible to essentially 'duplicate' a person by harvesting them from other timelines, and it's possible to just pull _billions of joules _of energy into existence with all the new matter that appears. But, that's how we know the D-mails work, so it's pretty likely time machine travel works the same way."

"Daru still had my very first message, even though I sent it from another timeline. We had to actively send other emails to invalidate the old ones' affects to switch back the timelines..." Okabe nodded. "And the other options?"

"Well, option two is Elimination." Suzuha continued. "Once you send something back into the past and it makes the change, that something is deleted. Removed. Poofed out of existence. The A from the nasty future and the guy who kills his grandfather both vanish in some way, and the new timeline continues on without them. This one means that at least conservation of energy is conserved, since the stuff appears then vanishes again, but Occam's razor says this is pretty suspicious. When does the matter disappear? Immediately? Once it reaches the time it left? What does it look like? We aren't sure."

"So, which is true?" Okabe asked, tense with curiosity. "Addition, or Elimination?"

Suzuha grinned. "I dunno!"

"...What?"

"I don't know." She shrugged. "Maybe you figured it out in the future, but you didn't tell me. We haven't really tried to test the fabric of the universe in that way."

"Hold on a minute." Makise held up a hand. Okabe could positively hear her mind whirring behind her eyes. "When Okabe came back from 'saving' me...he was bleeding."

"...Yes, if I stabbed myself, that would happen, assistant." Okabe raised an eyebrow at her, but Suzuha was smiling. "No, she's caught onto it. Keep thinking, Doc."

"If Addition were true, the bleeding Okabe would have shared the timeline from the him who was originally here." Makise considered. "I sure don't see two of him. But if Elimination were true, he would have vanished alongside you and the machine. At best, he would have Read Steiner across to this world's body. But he _wouldn't_ have the wound he'd received."

"This is why they call you the next Einstein." Suzuha chuckled. "That's the contradiction that tips you off in the future. And _that _is why I brought Harry Potter up."

She slapped the chassis of the time machine for emphasis. "So A from the future saves A from the past. What if A from the past ages, grows, builds a time machine for himself, and then he goes back and saves _himself_. We call that Substitution. No duplication, no issues, he disappears in the future and appears in the past. He's not changing anything, just making sure to do what he already _has_ done. Or,_ will_ do, if that makes sense."

"Traditional tenses do tend to break down in this kind of discussion." Okabe mused. "So what happens to the A who's friend did die? The A from the first time around?"

"He never happened." Suzuha smiled. "That's the clincher. Someone can change their own past in the way they remember it being changed _if_, and only if, it was _possible_ for them to go back and make that change _without_ their future self's interference.

A closed loop requires that initial catalyst to be possible, but if it _was_ possible, then it never actually happened."

"Never happened, and nobody would even remember it." Kurisu thought.

"Unless they had Reading Steiner." Okabe finished, with a gulp.

Suzuha nodded. "That's what makes you special, uncle Okarin. I am from the year 2036, but I'm not from world war three. I was born into the Steins;Gate worldline, and I've come back in time to make sure we _stay_ on the Steins;Gate worldline. I'm not stopping WW3, I'm...stopping, WW3, if that makes sense. Prevention not change. But the Suzuha you remember meeting _was_ from that hell. What you remember seeing _was_ a dead Kurisu, not just her lying unconscious. It's what you remember, but it's not what happened. It never did and it never will."

"So you're just ticking off a checklist, filling in the vacuum." Makise realised. "As long as you can do basically the same job you from World War Three did..."

"Then everything else gets straightened out by the attractor field." Suzuha nodded.

"I think I...hold on." Okabe frowned. "John Titor, that is, you, once told me that the grandfather paradox couldn't happen. But with this system, surely if you killed your past self there would be no you in the future to go back and complete the loop!"

"I don't know." Suzuha shrugged, and at his shocked expression, "That was a guess. It's not like we've tested going back to kill Daru's dad and seeing what happens to me. We're pretty sure our timeline works on some sort of...Conditional Subsitution. It's either Addition or Elimination most of the time, but if you fulfill specific circumstances, Substitution happens instead."

"I am going to _grill_ you for everything you know once we have the time." Kurisu warned; she'd already pulled out a pad of paper and was frantically writing notes on what Suzuha said. "But as of right now, what is it you need to do?"

* * *

"Hey, Mayuri?" Okabe called, walking down the stairs into the lab. "There's someone here who wants to see you!"

"Too late, dude." Daru called from the computer. "Her, Maho and the professor all cleared off while you were up there."

Okabe frowned, annoyed. "What? Why?"

"It's a weeknight, bro. She has school tomorrow. And Mah-" he froze as he saw who was following Okabe down. "Wait, Suzuha?"

"Yes, I'm sure she'll be able to fill you in." Okarin sighed, walking to the window and looking out into the street. As he'd expected, the three were gone.

"No matter. Mayuri will return tomorrow, and when she does? Operation Arclight part two will commence!"

There was a cough from behind him, and he winced. "Or, rather, operation Arclight will begin for the first time. For...everyone else."

"Confusing, right? Most people need a flowchart." Suzuha stretched. "So did you put any more beds in here or am I sleeping in the time machine?"

The next morning came, and went.

And Mayuri did not return from school.

* * *

**AD 2011.07.08 15:11:08**

"I hope I'm not overstepping my boundaries." Leskinen smiled at Mayuri, taking a seat across from her. His assistant Judy made room for him with a polite smile. "I know that it's often suspicious when a strange man asks you to get into his car with him. Feel free to get out if you ever..."

"No, no, it's fine!" Mayuri giggled. "You're not a stranger, you're a friend! Thanks for offering to take me to the lab. I usually have to walk there but Okarin told me that there was something really important he had to talk about, so I wanted to make sure I wasn't late."

Leskinen nodded and signalled his driver, and the car began to move. "Really important, hm? Do you think it had anything to do with his...time travel?" He wiggled his eyebrows as he said it, and Mayuri laughed.

"I'm serious, though, it has me fascinated!" He continued. "Did he really build a time machine?"

"Yessiree!" Mayuri nodded. "Well, he could send text messages. We tried to do it to bananas but they always ended up all green and jellified."

"Amazing." Leskinen breathed. "And to think, everyone had assumed this sort of thing was impossible. Ever since Nakabachi made such a fool of himself a year ago, the worlds governments gave it up as a bad job. You know I've asked miss Kurisu a few times, but she always said she thought the concept was nonsense."

"Makise probably just wanted to keep it quiet. Okarin and her have said that if the world got hold of that type of technology, there'd probably be a lot of fighting over it." Mayuri looked out the window, and frowned. "That's why you've gotta promise to keep it secret...hey, I think we took a wrong turn somewhere."

"How very...responsible of him." Leskinen kept talking. "But do you think he could build a real time machine? If he had proper motivation?"

"I don't know." Mayuri replied, concern beginning to register on her face. "But if he was working with Daru and Makise, I'm sure of it. Nothing can stop those three when they're working together."

"Right." Leskinen nodded, smile no longer present. "So if I wanted it done, I'd need all three of them."

Mayuri looked uncomfortably between him and Reyes. "I...I think I'd like to get out now."

"I'm afraid that won't be possible." Leskinen sighed. "He's a crafty one, and if he gets away I'd feel a lot more comfortable with you around to reel him back in." He looked at her, and the smile was back. But it wasn't a nice one. "After all, I understand you're used to being a hostage, right?"

Mayuri's eyes widened.

She looked to the door, saw the child locks were on, reached into her pocket for her phone.

"Reyes, put her out." Leskinen sighed, leaning back in his seat and closing his eyes. "We'll drop her off in the safehouse and then I'll have to head back to Viktor Chondria."

"Yes, sir."

"No, wait-"

Mayuri tried to escape in some way, but Reyes looked at her like she wasn't even a _person_, unbuckling herself and leaning forwards with a white cloth in her hand that she efficiently fixed on top of Mayuri's mouth.

She struggled, but couldn't _do_ anything, even as blackness slowly encroached the ends of her vision...

* * *

**AD 2011.07.08 15:49:19**

"Have you tried calling her?"

"Everyone in this room has tried calling her, Okarin, it's not going through."

Okabe bit his lip, turning away from Makise, Suzuha and Daru to think. "Did she tell any of you that she had plans?"

"Not that I remember." Makise frowned.

"What about her school friends? Do any of them remember her telling them her plans? Daru, can you get in contact with Yuki?"

"Uh, hold on, I'll message her..."

"What's the big deal?" Makise asked him. "For all we know it's just traffic."

"She walks." Okabe bit out. "And she's normally here _before_ us. She's _never_ this late."

They'd been waiting in the lab for over an hour now.

"Uh, Yuki says Katsumi says they're not sure where Mayushi went." Daru called out. "Lost track of her sometime after their last lesson, even though she usually heads home with them."

"So whatever it is happened after school..." Okabe turned back to him. "So nothing happened last night?"

"No, Maho and the professor walked her home." Daru waved his phone. "Check your texts, man. Maho text the group to say she was fine the whole time, chatting about time travel with them."

Okabe froze. "T-time travel? In front of professor Leskinen?"

Daru winced. "Eheh, yeah. I know you prefer it kept under wraps, but it came up last night while you were upstairs, and-Hey! Where are you going?"

He didn't answer, darting out into the stairwell and pulling his phone out, scanning through his contacts list. _The timeline is irrelevant, Leskinen still works for Strategic Focus. Everything we did to end up in this timeline didn't eliminate any of our issues; CERN, DURPA, the Russians, they're all still out there. We've just avoided raising anyone's suspicions that time travel is real at all. But if Leskinen gets wind from us that it is...if he remembers that it was _Kurisu _who wrote Nakabashi's thesis..._

He hit dial.

Before the second ring, there was a click.

"...Hello?"

"Double-oh-five." Okabe said, trying to keep the rising panic out of his voice. "I'm aware that you prefer to text, but this is a very important matter, possibly an emergency. Are you in Akihabara?"

"...yes." Came Kiryu Moeka's reply. "What is it?"

"I would like for you to go to Mayuri's house, and check if she's there." He said, rattling off her address. "For once, I won't criticise your particular brand of driving, I'd like an answer as soon as possible. We believe she may be in trouble."

"...I understand." There was a muffled roar from the other side of the phone. "I'm on my way now."

"Are you _calling_ me while driving?"

"Yes. Is that a problem?"

_It's illegal, but hardly out of character for you_. "No, it's fine. One other thing. If she's not there, I may need to call upon your abilities as...as M4."

There was a barely audible intake of breath.

"I warn you that I am not your FB-" Okabe began, but she interrupted, "I know. You've explained before."

_Right. The me from this timeline would have wanted Moeka's possible enmity resolved._

"I haven't done anything like that in months." She continued, sounding worried. "I mean, FB hasn't texted me in-"

"Have your skills atrophied in that time?" He interrupted, tapping his foot impatiently.

A pause. Then a "No." came through, voice confident and calm.

"Excellent. Please contact me immediately whatever it is you find at Mayuri's."

Okabe cut the call, exhaled, and walked back into the lab.

* * *

"What was that?" Suzuha asked, looking up from the sofa.

"I've sent Shining Finger over to check Mayuri's house." Okabe explained. "In a few minutes or so we'll know whether or not she's been home today."

"Shini-right, your nickname for Moeka." Suzuha chuckled. "A few minutes? Is she that close?"

"It's less a matter of distance, more a matter of _speed_. I have no idea how that woman got her driving license..."

"So we wait." Makise shrugged. "If she's not there, we could to go to Rumiho-"

"Faris." Daru interrupted.

"Whatever, and alert the police to a missing person." Kurisu winced. "But I'd still advise waiting until later, maybe tonight or tomorrow. It'd be pretty embarrassing if we called it in and she'd just gone on an impromptu shopping session or something."

_Just wait...?_

Okabe clenched his fist. "Hack?" He asked. "Can you trace a phone call?"

"Huh?" Daru looked at him. "Wait, are you serious? Hell yeah, I've always wanted to do that!"

"Good. I'm going to call professor Leskinen. I want you to find out where he is."

"What?" Makise gave him a _look_. "Why?"

Okabe gave Suzuha a look as well, but she gave him a confused one back. "What? I don't know this guy. Either he's no threat in my future or you never tell me about him to keep the timeline less messy."

_Right, he's only a threat in the World War Three timeline. This Suzuha won't know him_.

"This may be hard to believe, but Professor Leskinen works for an American intelligence group called Strategic Focus." Okabe announced, sweeping his gaze across them. "In another past, he was a major threat to this laboratory. He brainwashed lab mem 010, and was responsible for Mayuri's death on many occasions."

"Oh-one, wait, he brainwashed Kagari?" Suzuha's eyes narrowed. "Where is he. I'll kill him. That _bastard_ I'll-"

"You didn't bring her into the past with you this time, did you?" Okabe asked.

"What? No, why would I...dammit, how screwed up is that future?"

"Bad. And I don't want to take your presence here as a guarantee that Steins;Gate is certain." He thought about it, trying his damnedest to visualise what was happening. "What happens if he gets his hands on the time machine currently on the roof? Or destroys it?"

Suzuha blinked. "I don't...it might not be possible. Or, well, I suppose there's a prerequisite for a time machine coming back from the future, and then going somewhere else to change it..."

"Indeed." Okabe nodded. "It's possible for you to maintain this present timeline, yet it's also possible for you to change it."

Suzuha nodded, numbly. "I'm starting to realise why they put _you_ in charge of the lab..."

"Hold on, _Alexis Leskinen_ works for a shadow organisation?" Makise looked at him like he'd grown an extra head. "The guy that gets suckered by every deal in the shops? The guy that still can't pronounce Japanese properly? Leskinen once forgot how the projector worked while he was teaching me a physics class!"

"It's an impressive facade." Okabe acknowledged.

"You're lying to me." Kurisu shook her head. "This is ridiculous. Ask Maho, she works with him!"

"I have a feeling she might be easier to convince than you." Okabe mused. "A partial Reading Steiner might kick in. But _you_ were dead by the time he became a threat in that worldline." He coughed. "And, er, sorry about that."

Kurisu was too shocked to reply.

"Hack?" Okabe turned back to Daru. "How do we do this?"

"Stop calling me that and gimme your phone..." Daru took the device and attached a wire between it and his PC. "Alright, they're talking...okay, if you make the call and he's in Akihabara, I should be able to start tracing him. You'll have to keep it going for a few minutes for me to triangulate it fully." He grinned. "Ohoho, you have no idea how long I've wanted to say that!"

Okabe nodded and took back his phone, scrolling down to Leskinen's number.

"H-Hold on!" Makise shouted. "What makes you so sure he's involved? Remember when Suzuha was talking about Occam's razor? Surely it's more likely Mayuri's just caught up in some tiny accident! How do you know?"

He looked across to her and smiled. "I don't."

"...What?"

"I'm not certain it's Leskinen. It's not even likely." Okabe admitted. "But what would you have me do, wait? The great Hououin Kyouma does not wait!" He paused, decided that yes, he was doing this, placed the phone down, then spun on the room. "Listen well, assistant et al! I have waded through rivers of blood and time to get here! Some mine, some yours, and some belonging to those who crossed me! Here I am at the cusp of final victory, with no phone-wave, no time-leap, nothing but a time machine that's going to run dry after one more use!"

He saw Suzuha stiffen and knew he'd hit the nail on the head. _Why is there never enough fuel in that damn thing..._

"It is my final challenge! The laws of time have been placed outside my reach, and I must overcome this last hurdle with the _barbarically_ simple _linear_ forwards progression that the rest of you peasants are used to!"

His phone bleeped. He looked down at the new message, and gulped.

**Kiryū Moeka (10 seconds ago):**

**Mayuri never came home today (o_o)!**

"As such." He continued. "I will not squander what little time I have left to me. Not out of fear of mere embarrassment! What use do I, a mad scientist, have of such a thing?" He picked his phone back up, and pressed call. "Behold! For now the ultimate mastermind of manipulation will demonstrate his ability to _wrest_ Leskinen's location...FROM HIS VERY SOUL!"

_Click_.

"Hello?"

"Hi, Okabe Rintarou here, calling for professor Leskinen?"

* * *

**Oh boy. There was the big one.**

**Second Conclusion: Given that it's possible to change to a different timeline, either the intruder can stay, or they can vanish. Addition or Elimination.**

**Third Conclusion: Due to the shown conditions of Okabe returning to the future in the last episode of the first season (he replaces that worldline's him) it must be at least _possible _to form a closed loop a-la Harry Potter's time turners. Substitution.**

**The only difference is that in Harry Potter, you can't change the past (we all agree cursed child isn't canon, right?) which means that for them your surviving to go back didn't need to be necessary in order for you to go back, so long as it _is _with your future interference. Harry can go back and save his own life, but he _can't _go back and shoot himself.**

**So, from conclusions 1-3, someone from the far future must have come back and completed the conditions for Steins;Gate, and almost all of the first season as Okabe saw it _Never Happened, _supplanted by the new timeline. It seems most likely to me that, to keep things as close as possible to what happened, they sent Steins;Gate's Suzuha back. She sorted the IBM 5100, took Okabe back, let him fail, took him back _again _to succeed, and then after dropping him back off, went about another year into the future...appearing again when Okabe Read across, with the intention of going back with Mayuri to give her the necessary motivation.**

**Yeah, this is all super confusing, but think hard enough about it and everything comes to light. **

**If you still have questions, feel free to leave it in a review!**


	3. Pre-Empt (Let's See How We Measure Up)

**Pre-Empt (Let's See How We Measure Up)**

* * *

**AD 2011.07.08 15:53:39**

"Lintahlo!" Leskinen's cheerful voice came up through the phone's speaker. "How are you doing! Missing me already?"

Daru gave Okabe a thumbs up, so the trace must have started.

"Uh, hi, professor, I was wondering, do you happen to know where Mayuri is? She hasn't shown up here yet, and-"

"Oh, why yes, I have!"

Okabe tensed.

"I was on an errand from my lab when I passed by her school and saw her!" Leskinen continued. "I waved, she flagged me down, and I offered to give her a ride back home! Can't believe that girl usually walks all the way there...ah, you can check with the school if you want, I had a nice chat with one of the teachers, lovely lady let me tell you, she had this hair..."

Okabe snapped his fingers at Makise,_ check that,_ and while she threw up the middle finger at him, she complied, exiting the room to make her own phone call.

"We also haven't been able to get a call through to her..." he continued.

"Oh, yeah, she mentioned that. Apparently she forgot to charge her phone last night and it died while it was at school." Leskinen sighed audibly. "Japanese phones, I tell ya, you wanna get a good American model. Although, I see no reason why she shouldn't have charged it once she got home..."

Okabe had an idea. "This being her home on cherry tree lane?"

"Uh...I think so? This was a couple hours ago, my friend! I've been busy at work since then."

_Dammit. That _isn't _her address, but his cover persona's so obtuse it's in character for him to forget._

"Right. The only issue is, I...uh, rang her house, and apparently she never did get back home."

"Really? That's odd." Leskinen's voice went pensive. "I saw her walk up her own driveway. Should have walked her to the door, that would have been the gentlemanly thing to do, but I was in such a hurry, had to get back to the lab. Say, you sound pretty nervous. Do you think she's in trouble?"

Okabe sighed, conceding defeat on the verbal angle of attack. "I _am_ nervous. Sorry if it feels like I've been grilling you, but, well, you know how I get about Mayuri."

"It's fine, Lintahlo, totally fine!" Leskinen chuckled. "Tell you what, I'll do some of my own checks, see if they pan out, alright?"

"Right. Thanks again, professor." Okabe looked back to Daru and was met with a frantic cyclical hand gesture, _not finished yet, keep it going-_

"Oh, right, while I've got you here, there was, ah, one other thing I wanted to talk to you about." Okarin blustered, trying to think of something else to say._ I have no idea whether this actually happened in this timeline, but-_ "I wanted to bring up what you said, about...the possibility of me transferring to Viktor Chondria? When my studies were done?"

"You do?" Leskinen's voice sounded shocked. "You told me last time I brought it up that you'd rather stay in Japan."

"Yes, well, I've been thinking. There's a lot more to the world than Akihabara, and I just...well, I was wondering whether it was still a possibility?"

"A possibility?" Leskinen laughed. "Lintahlo, I'd be ecstatic! If you ever decide you want to study at my university you call me, and I will _tell_ them that you're coming! I'm not letting a mind like yours out of my reach if I can help it!"

"Right, thank you." Daru gave Okabe another thumbs up, and he tried not to sigh out loud from the relief. "I'll call you later to tell you how the search went."

"Got it. Good luck finding her, bye!"

Okabe ended the call, and immediately bent over Daru's screen. "Well?"

"School got back to me." Makise said, walking in. "Apparently he _did_ pick her up, and she was fine with it. Does this mean you're going to stop being paranoid?"

"I would." Okabe replied, squinting. "Except according to this, he's not where he claims to be."

"Dude." Daru gulped. "Is that an honest-to-god abandoned warehouse?"

* * *

Leskinen cut the call, and snarled. "Bastard."

"Does he suspect?" Judy Reyes asked him, leaning against the wall.

"He has no reason to suspect. He didn't _sound_ like he suspected." Leskinen sighed, looking to the centre of the room. Mayuri's head lolled to the side, arms shackled to the chair she'd been put in. The girl hadn't woken up yet.

"It's just...I don't know, I have this feeling." He grimaced, thinking back. "He had this look in his eyes last night, like he saw right through me."

"We know where he is. Do we raid the lab?" Reyes asked. "We have more than enough men to go for him and still guard the girl."

"No." Leskinen made a cutting motion. "We wait until night. Work out where they're living, pull them out quietly. I'm not raiding a flat in broad daylight, the higher ups would have my head. But I _am_ heading back to where I'm supposed to be in case he thinks to check."

"Aren't you worried he'll try something more drastic before nightfall?" Reyes checked.

He snorted. "He has no reason to suspect me, and no idea where she is. He'd have to be a mad genius to get his precious Mayuri back."

* * *

Ignoring the shouts from pedestrians and the honking from other drivers, Kiryū Moeka maintained a steady 50mph down the winding roads as she checked her phone. Okabe had sent her a set of co-ordinates, and a map to go with it.

**We suspect Mayuri might be here.**

Came his followup text. Then,

**Please don't feel obligated to put yourself in danger, 005. If it doesn't look safe, fall back and call the authorities.**

Moeka smiled, put down the phone, and reached behind her seat, grasping for the black biker helmet she kept there for emergencies.

Of course Okabe wanted her to stay safe. He was nice like that. As much as he acted aloof, angry, or downright weird; the moment he made you a part of his lab, you were a part of his family. The only times Kiryū had ever felt loved were when she was talking to FB, or when she was in the lab.

The main difference being that she knew Hououin Kyouma would, without hesitation, tear time and space apart to protect her.

_And really_, she thought, as she reached up into her glove box to withdraw a pistol, _does he not expect us to do the same for him?_

* * *

Kiryū Moeka didn't so much _reach_ the location specified as _crash into it_.

Her car smashed through a pair of locked gates and continued onwards, through an opening into the building proper, but by that point she had already jumped out and hit the ground rolling.

A guard at the gate hefted an assault rifle with a shout of alarm, but he was tracking the car, not it's occupant. She shot him once in each leg, then walked over and struck the back of his head with her pistol.

Shouting came from the inside of the warehouse and Moeka sprinted towards it, jumping in through a window rather than following her vehicle.

She fell practically on top of another man, this one armed as well, and she elbowed him in the throat, wrenching his rifle from his hand and striking his head with the butt of it. Running, she quickly assessed her surroundings. Some sort of vehicle repair shop, by the looks of it; lots of tall shelves of parts, barrels, cars up on platforms. Lots of cover. That was good and bad.

She saw a figure move in the distance and fired blindly, then began sprinting in an odd direction to keep her position obscured. She slid under a shelf, ducked behind the chassis of her own car, saw a figure slumped in a chair off in one corner _Mayuri!_-

Something slammed into her head and she went reeling.

Her helmet fell off and she kicked, striking something, and rolled backwards into a crouch, pointing her pistol up and freezing.

Pointing a gun right back down at her was a woman with short black hair and glasses. Kiryū was certain she knew her from somewhere, but couldn't place her name.

"You're good." The woman admitted. "Where did you learn?"

"CERN." Moeka replied, calmly, knowing that worrying about concealing information was pointless. Only one of them would be leaving.

"Hm. DURPA." The woman replied. She cocked the gun. "Lets see how we measure up."

Moeka wasn't afraid, oddly enough, even as more guards began running up from one side. Her eyes flicked across to an unconscious Mayuri. _How could I be, when I have something so important to fight for?_

She darted to one side, and the room came alive with gunfire, automatic fire thundering from half a dozen directions at once and slamming into metal containers as people began to scream and-

* * *

**AD 2011.07.08 16:02:12**

An innocent little text tone dinged on Okabe's phone.

"It's completely ridiculous!" Shouted Maho, who had been called in to the lab by Makise as another bulwark against his beliefs about her professor. "Whatever Mayuri was saying about time travel-"

"My machine's literally on the roof." Suzuha drawled.

"-there's no way _Alexis_ could-"

"Silence, peons!" Okabe shouted, grabbing his phone. "We have an update!"

**Kiryū Moeka (1 min ago):**

**Target secured (^w^)! Bringing Mayuri back now.**

Okabe took a second to register that, before exploding. "She _WHAT__-"_

* * *

**AD 2011.07.08 16:02:06**

Moeka hit send, then immediately looked sideways to the passenger seat. Mayuri was slumped there, carefully fastened in and covered by Moeka's jacket, shifting a little in place.

For the first time in a while, Kiryū made absolutely sure that she was driving at or below the speed limit.

A police car zoomed past them, certainly not controlling it's own speed, and it's screaming siren and flashing lights seemed to have some effect on Mayuri. She let out a small "ngh" sort of noise, and her eyelashes briefly flickered half open. "Wh...wha..."

"Don't worry." Kiryū told her, torn between trying to make eye contact with the girl and keeping her own eyes on the road. "You're safe. You're still under the effects of the sedative, so it's perfectly normal to be woozy. Rest."

"oh...Okay..." Mayuri was blatantly too sleepy to have heard any of that. "Is...Okarin...Hikeboshi..."

Moeka smiled. "Don't worry. You'll be with your Okarin before you know it."

That seemed to satisfy the girl. She stopped trying to hold her eyes open, and passed unconscious almost immediately.

* * *

** She's okay but sleepy (-_-zzz) Bringing her home now!**

Okabe sighed in relief at the confirmation, then began texting back as fast as he could.

**Why was she there? Was she defended?**

The response came quickly;

**There were baddies (gone now!) Things got loud though...**

Okabe gulped. "Daru. The TV. Put on the news."

"What? Oh sure." Daru reached for the remote.

"Well? Who's texting you?" Maho asked.

"Moeka." Okabe replied, distractedly, looking at the screen. "She's retrieved Mayuri."

"_WHAT?_" Said everyone else in the room at once.

"Retrieved? Where was she?" Makise shouted.

What happened to her?" Suzuha asked.

"Well..."

_"Breaking news, we have a recent report of a firefight occurring in central Akihabara." _Said the newsman on the television, shutting everyone up immediately._ "Police were called after numerous citizens reported hearing screams and gunfire from an abandoned maintenance warehouse in the city. Violence appears to have ceased for now, but on-scene law enforcement has confirmed over a dozen as-yet unidentified foreign nationals, most dead, with two requiring hospital treatment. Among the deceased is one Judy Reyes, American scientist who has been working in the country for the last month. Whether this is a result of gang violence or large scale paramilitary action is unclear, but-"_

Daru turned off the television with a slightly shaky hand, and looked across at Okabe with a dumbstruck expression. "That...was Moeka? That was _a__ll _Moeka?"

"It does appear to be Double-oh-Five's handiwork, yes." He replied.

"She works at a _CRT_ shop."

"Part time."

There was a screech of tyres outside, and everyone in the lab began a shoving contest to be the first out the door.

* * *

**AD 2011.07.08 16:14:49**

"Are you alright? They didn't hurt you?"

"I'm fine."

"Are you sure?"

"I'm _fine_."

Mayuri had been laid down on the sofa, covered in a blanket, offered a hot drink, and essentially waited on hand and foot by everyone in the room. She had been barely conscious when she'd first been guided out of the car, but had slowly regained more lucidity as the minutes passed.

"Chloroform." Moeka had said, quietly, before attempting to vanish as was her usual modus operandi. Okabe had stopped her, and pulled her into a full body hug. "Thank you." He'd whispered.

Moeka, being Moeka, hadn't responded, but there had been a blush on her cheeks when he'd pulled away, and she hadn't disappeared into the room's background quite as thoroughly as she usually would.

Mr Braun, however, had given Okabe a _very_ suspicious look as the group passed him on the way up.

"Are you sure you don't want anything to eat? Drink?" Makise offered. "I can go to the shops if you say the word and-"

"Stop worrying." Mayuri smiled. "It was really scary for a little while, and then they put me to sleep, and by the time I woke up I was already in the passenger seat with Kiryū!"

"But, it _was_ professor Leskinen who kidnapped you?" Maho asked. "You're sure?"

Mayuri frowned. "Well, I-"

Okabe's phone began to ring.

He looked down, saw the caller ID, gulped, and then shouted "SHUT UUUUP!" As loud as he could.

Once everyone was silent, he accepted the call, and put it on loudspeaker. "H-hello?"

"Rintarou." Came Leskinen's voice. Any trace of his signature mispronunciation was gone.

"Ah, professor." Okabe replied, weakly. He looked around, everyone was hanging on every word of the conversation. "Excellent timing, I thought I'd let you know that we've found Mayuri-"

"Don't try and play your games with me now Rintarou." Leskinen's voice came through. "You know, I thought _I_ was the one benefiting from my professor charade. But now it seems you're using it against me, so I'll be done with it."

"As you wish." Okabe paused to gather all his confidence, then cracked a grin. "Your minions are rather incompetent, Lexie-kun."

"Oh, I'll be keeping that in mind." Leskinen replied, anger palpable. "How the _hell_ did you find them?"

"Are you expecting me to reply with 'time travel'?" Okabe offered, moving to lean on something in the hopes that his sassier posture would come through in his voice. "Perhaps you're just not a very good evil mastermind, especially compared to the mad genius of myself. Your employers in Strategic Focus can't be very happy about you losing so many men."

"How much _do_ you know?" Came the angry reply.

"Oh, _more_ than enough." Okabe told him. "Did you know that your subordinate there was actually a double agent, working for a different group? You should be thanking me for extracting DURPA's teeth from your operations."

There was a pause from the other side of the phone. "Alright smart guy, here's the deal. I have closed down every single possible exit from Akihabara. The best way that this goes down is if you, Makise, and the fat one all come calmly to me. Everyone else get to live their lives, I don't care either way. And then you make me a time machine."

Okabe moved away from the receiver slightly, gulped, and then replied "Or?"

"Or I wait until night falls, and a force ten times the size of the one you just dealt with tears this city apart looking for you. And then the same result happens, only I stop trying to limit any casualties in your little...what do you call it, 'lab'? And by 'stop trying to limit', I mean 'actively encourage'. I know their _names_, Rintarou. I know where they _live_."

Kyouma's fist clenched at his side, but his voice didn't change. "Professor, Professor, Professor...how many times do you think we've had this talk?"

There was silence on the other end of the phone.

"Oh, not this exact one, of course, there's always a few variations. But the whole spiel of you revealing your true self and describing your true intentions (which, by the way, are always something to do with time machines, you're rather unimaginative)..." Kyouma tutted. "Dozens, sir. _Dozens_. Sometimes I just have you knocked out so I don't have to listen to it."

"I don't think you-"

"I don't think _you_ understand exactly what you're dealing with." Okabe interrupted him. "You are challenging _Hououin Kyouma_, Alexis. This is something you've done many, many times. Most of those are yesterday, occasionally earlier, sometimes far in the future. Do you know what all those attempts have in common?" He brought the phone closer to his mouth, and whispered. "I. Always. Win."

Another few seconds passed. And the line went dead.

Okabe looked up to see everyone present staring at him.

"Was that...all true?" Maho asked, looking up with a suitable combination of fear and awe.

"Not all of it." Okabe admitted. "I've actually only beaten him once. Hack! Summon all lab members! They are in immediate danger, and it is long past time we convened a _true _round table meeting!"

* * *

**Not much more lore unveiling this chapter, just plot, fluff, and angst. **

**Next chapter is when all the _planning _happens, so stay tuned.**


	4. Round Table (You do have a plan, Right?)

**Lab Members:**

**001-Okabe Rintarou (Okarin, Hououin Kyouma)**

**002-Mayuri Shiina (Mayushii)**

**003-Hashida Itaru (Daru, Hack)**

**004-Makise Kurisu (Christina, Assistant)**

**005-Kiryu Moeka (Shining Finger, M4)**

**006-Ruka Urushibara (Rukako)**

**007-Akiha Rumiho (Faris)**

**008-Suzuha Amane (Suzu Hashida, Future-girl, John Titor)**

**009-Maho Hiyajo (Josephina, variations on 'small')**

**010-Kagari Shiina (K6205)**

**011-Yuki Amane (only ever given cutesy nicknames by Daru)**

* * *

**Round Table (You do have a Plan, Right?)**

* * *

**AD 2011.07.08 19:28:13**

"Uh, Suzuha? A word?" The time traveller looked up at Okabe's call, nodded, and followed him out into the stairwell.

"'Sup, Uncle?" She asked, once they were alone. "Whaddaya need?"

"Information." He replied, simply. "As much as you can give me. I'm trying to wrap my head around what's going on on your end. Or, has gone on, or will go on-"

"Right." Suzuha sighed. "Well, there's limits on what I can tell you. Like I explained, Substitution requires me to go back in time and not change anything from what I remember happening, just ensure it remains possible. If I tell you too much and it alters your decision making, the Attractor Field won't be able to corral the changes and we'll be on a different worldline. Of course, if this is going to happen it already has, and I'll appear back in the future to find another me. Or I'll suddenly disappear."

"Noted. Odd to think that some great temporal friction exists, delicately pushing on us so that everything fits neatly into what it would like..." Okabe scratched the back of his head, nervously. "Very well. What _can _you say?"

"Uh, hold on..." She reached into a back pocket, pulling out a notepad. "I've been given a list...you guys have (very deliberately, I'm sure) kept me in the dark about a lot of the details of your time heists. You, especially, have refused to tell me much about the mes from the worldlines only you remember. But I've been briefed on my overall mission, and I can tell you that."

She cleared her throat. "So like I said, I left from 2036. Stopped by in 1999 to fix the Y2K problem. Came to this worldine's you in 2010, claimed to be from World War Three and that my mission was to bring you back to save Kurisu. Wrapped that bit up on the first try."

"First." He frowned. "This world's me never-" _Blood, knife, red hair, screaming- _He carefully cut himself off and breathed in. _Come on, man. She's alive. You can walk into the next room and see her, keep it together._

If Suzuha noticed his turmoil, she didn't show it. "No. Apparently some futures plans involved you having to go through the failure in order to muster up the strength to pull it off, but..." She glanced down at the page. "Oh yeah. If we did go back and screw it up, going to the future would take us to a different timeline, and even if we did that then tried again and succeeded we wouldn't be able to bring Mayuri back to that timeline from here and-Look, the easiest way to do it is for me to take Mayuri back to just before you first have to go. Get her to talk to herself to talk to you and give you some info you'll need."

"Well, if it works." Okabe thought about it. "The most important factor is that that me knows he has to do it while hoodwinking his past self...so what next?"

"Well, you came back with me. We left Kurisu unconscious and stopped Nakabachi getting the thesis to Russia. I dropped you back off where you left, with a giant bleeding hole in your chest, and then jumped forwards to now." She flipped a page. "This is the part where I take Mayuri back to have a quick phone call with herself."

"Operation Arclight." Okabe nodded. "Stable time-loop version."

"Precisely. After that...things get a little dicy." She bit her lip. "You...mentioned you knew about the fuel problem."

"With that damnable machine, if it's not breaking due to bad weather, it's running out of power." Okabe chuckled, but his smile died when he saw her expression. "How many jumps do you have?"

"Enough to get back and for Mayuri to deliver her message. But after that..." Suzuha shivered, almost imperceptively. "I'm to attempt to return to now, in 2011. But everyone in the future knows that, well, odds are? It isn't gonna work. I've done the maths, Uncle, and I'm not sure if the machine's gonna tear apart, stay where it is, or just drop me...anywhere! Anywhere in time and space, for all I know!"

"They're asking you to risk your life?" Okabe frowned. "That hardly sounds like something Mayuri would let us get away with."

"That's the only reason I've agreed to this." She laughed, nervously. "Future-You has told me to trust you. Something to do with what happened in 2025, but you wouldn't extrapolate."

"The day I'm fated to die?" Okabe gulped. "What happens in 2025?"

"Well as far as I know, you turned on the prototype time machine you'd spent the last five or so years building, and then ten minutes later it's absolutely _trashed_ and you're stumbling out of it laughing like a maniac."

"Ah."

"Yeah." Suzuha grimaced. "I'll admit, I'm scared. But I do trust you, and Dad, and Kurisu and everyone else in the lab. So...I'm willing to do it."

"I'll...try to live up to that." Okabe gulped.

"Anyway," Suzuha shook herself, "in order to get to that, we have to survive tonight."

"Right. Are you sure you don't want to just up and leave ahead of time?"

"And leave you to fight this guy without me? No thanks. I'm not a girl who runs away from trouble. Plus I imagine your plan's gonna need me in some capacity." She flashed him a grin of complete faith. "You do have a plan, right?"

"Of course." He chuckled, slightly manically. "Come now, when have I ever not had a plan?"

* * *

**AD 2011.07.08 20:03:53**

Makise Kurisu walked up the stairs to the roof, looked out, and sighed. "I figured I'd find you up here."

Okabe Rintarou lay on the roof in front of the time machine, one arm lying over his face in order to block out the sunset.

"The machine usually ends up on top of the radio building." He told her. "Only this time its here. Every time the future gets a bit nicer, it seems to keep getting more improvements. This one can go through space as well, apparently..."

"Everyone's gathered downstairs in the lab." She told him, walking over and sitting down next to him. "Whatever you were planning on telling them, now's the time."

She waited, and when he didn't respond, continued "But...you don't have a plan. Do you?"

Okabe tensed, but didn't say anything.

"Let me guess..." Makise stretched out and laid down next to him. "You're thinking something along the lines of 'he has an army! I don't even have a phone wave! Alas, what am I to do?'"

"Your over-dramatisation does nothing to elucidate a solution, assistant." He grumbled.

"Hiding behind big words again, are we?" She asked, smugly.

"Alright, alright..." He moved his arm away and looked across at her. "I've never had to _do_ this before. All of my plans have involved _dodging_ the organisations, making it so that they never notice us in the first place. But there's no going back and removing Leskinen as a threat entirely, not without throwing ourselves right back off Steins;Gate. I have to _fight_ him, I've never been in a fight in my life!"

"You've told me that in the alpha and beta worldlines, you manage a prolonged _war_ against those factions." Makise pointed out. "Sometimes all of them at once!"

"In the future, perhaps. Whoever I have to turn into to survive World War Three...I certainly haven't turned into him yet."

"You haven't..." She made a disbelieving look. "Okabe, I just watched you realise Mayushi was in danger, deduce the culprit, find her location and extract her from an armed base without a scratch on her! All in less than half an hour!"

He scowled. "Yes, with knowledge I gleaned from machines you and Daru built, fumbling my way through a call that Daru traced and relying on Moeka to do all the footwork. All I did was put on a silly voice and shout orders!"

"That's the point." Makise wiggled closer. "Okabe Rintarou, listen to me. You are the most brilliant scientist I have ever met. Well, other than myself of course."

"Ha; ha."

"But more than that; you're a leader." She stressed. "You're the reason this lab exists, you brought everyone together and you bring the best out of everyone, even if you make them think you're an _unbearable_ asshole while you're doing it. You saved my _life_. You're smart, charismatic, and determined, and if anyone's going to find a way to get us all out of this, it's you."

He blushed, and she giggled, continuing "And it looks like you have no idea how to take a genuine compliment, but I don't think that's entirely relevant."

There was a pause, during which both realised exactly how close their faces were to each other.

"Out, um, out of curiosity." He stammered. "Have we...that is, in this timeline, have you and I maybe..."

"We've never said anything definitive..." She admitted. "But I do have very strong memories of a certain kiss, that for the life of me I can't place ever actually happening."

"And it doesn't bother you?" He checked, looking into her eyes. "That almost all of my memories of you are from events that never happened? That all your memories of me are from someone who I'm not?"

She smirked, and leaned in closer. "Try me..."

There was a bang, and both shot up into a sitting position as Suzuha threw the door open saying "Hey Makise have you found him yet because-Oh."

The girl from the future blushed heavily as the two scientists glared at her. "Or, uh, if you wanted I could come back in five minutes-"

"Not at all, double-oh-eight. Your interruption, while untimely, was quite necessary." Okabe stood up, brushed off his lab coat, and tried to quell his beating heart. "Ahem. Now then, let us return to the lab." He moved to walk past Suzuha, and stopped. "You, uh. You aren't going to tell anyone-"

"Lab rule #12. Nobody is allowed to talk about anything that happens between lab mem 001 and lab mem 004, nor make insinuations thereof." She chuckled. "That one's been in place since before I was born. Or, will be."

"He makes a rule to try and stop people embarrassing him?" Makise asked, walking up behind them. "That sounds like something his ego would come up with."

"Actually, Kurisu..._you're_ the one that makes that rule."

"Ngh." The redhead flushed. "Whatever, lets just go."

* * *

**AD 2011.07.08 20:08:45**

Okabe stood in the centre of the lab, and counted. _1, 2, 3, 4...8, 9. And Yuki, who I haven't actually numbered yet. Good. They're all here._

It certainly felt like it. The lab was crowded; five people squished in close on the sofa, one sat in the computer area and three stood around awkwardly leaning on walls._ It's like those memory games where you have to try and remember where all the little bits and bobs are, only instead of scissors, glue and string it's annoyingly attractive women. Uh, plus Daru._

He clapped his hands. "Ladies!" He gestured at Faris, "Gentlemen!" he gestured at Daru, "Timeline dependant!" he pointed at Rukako, who broke into a coughing fit,

"May the three thousand, seven hundred and ninety fifth round table meeting commence!"

He began pacing. "To summarise, our lab has found itself directly within the sights of the organisation. Yes, a very real, very dangerous organisation. Their objectives are the capture of myself, 003 and 004, and should they discover it, likely also the appropriation of 008 and her time machine."

Maho put her hand in the air. "Could I maybe get a sheet of who's double-oh-what? I'm getting confused."

Makise began writing it out on the wall's whiteboard.

"You may find yourselves feeling odd flashes of deja vu, or being less surprised by these events than you ought to be." Okabe continued. "These thoughts are from the emergence of your limited abilities of Reading Steiner. Cling to them, for they may provide valuable insights for the time ahead."

He plucked the pen out of Makise's hand, weathered her elbow digging into his kidneys, and began drawing on the board in her place. "Our objectives, in turn, are to first ensure the safety of all lab members, Akihabara, and the greater city of Tokyo. Second, to protect the time machine from their grasp, and third to ensure that the attentions of this organisation, and of many others, are turned away from us for the foreseeable future."

He turned back to the room, looking between each member in turn. "Know this; I cannot promise your safely. I will do everything in my power to ensure it, but if you would prefer to take your own measures to survive, I bid you the best luck in doing so. My only warning is that the enemy has stymied all attempts to leave Tokyo, and they know where you live."

There was a lot of shifting, and glances from person to person, but nobody moved.

"Very well, feel free to adress any further concerns to me in private." He straightened, and gave Makise the pen back. "Our opponents bring to the table a substantial paramilitary force, upwards of a hundred men. Countering that force will require each unit in our possession to be used to their absolute fullest, for every ounce of their potential to be wrung out and applied at the perfect place and time. Achieving such efficiency would require the efforts of a genius. Fortunately..." he grinned. "You have one."

Daru whooped, Faris 'Nya!'d, and many members broke out into nervous grins.

"In this endeavour, we shall begin our greatest mission yet!" He thrust out one arm. "Operation: Waifu Squad!"

"..._huh_?" Said just about everyone at once.

"003, 004-dash A, 004-B, 009." Okabe pointed. "You are our science waifus!"

Makise and Maho blushed, but Daru just grinned. "I get to be a waifu? Sweet!"

"Your objective is mission oversight, and the long term thwarting of StratFor's plans. Use your computer skills, knowledge of the professor and individual geniuses to find out as much about Leskinen as possible. Is there a way to have him arrested? Discredit him to his superiors? Out him to the world? I leave the specifics up to you."

"Uh, I'm 004, right?" Makise checked. "What's with the A and B thing?"

Okabe sighed in false disappointment. "Assistant, now is not the time to hide our assets from the lab as a whole."

"You want me to show you my _assets_?" She looked at him in horror.

"What? No!" He shook his head rapidly to try and stave off her anger. "I was referencing the alternate version of yourself that I have reason to believe you're carrying around with you. One that you told me you had reconstructed after it's previous destruction, and might prove very useful with computer work?"

Realisation showed in Kurisu's eyes. "Oh. Right, hold on-"

"Wait, are you telling me that Makise has a 'little Makise' in her pocket? Hehehehe..." Daru giggled like a schoolgirl, before freezing as Kurisu pulled out her phone and opened a very particular app.

"Evening, gorgeous." Amadeus said to her carrier. "What's the-oh, we're in public, okay. Wait hold on, turn me!"

Makise obligingly turned the phone screen, revealing Amadeus' avatar to the world at large. She narrowed her eyes at Daru specifically. "_You!_" She accused.

There were 'ooh's from the room.

"Lab, this is Amadeus, the brain science institute's prize project. Amadeus, lab." Okabe introduced. "She's upset at Daru, not for all the usual reasons our Supah Hackah offends people, but because he was responsible for deleting the archives of her previous iteration."

"You're damn right I'm upset!" Amadeus shouted, while the full-size Makise giggled. "This asshole set our department back by-"

"Do not blame the Hack, mini-Christina, he was operating under _my_ orders." Okabe reassured her, then when Daru looked at him weirdly, "Ah, from the future. The message you received daring you to find and delete it was a D-mail from me. Long story, we had to stop World War Three. That is actually one of two occasions where you saved the world before our adventures ever started; do you recall the tip to hack into CERN and delete a certain message they'd recorded?"

"Huh." Daru blinked. "You know, this is kinda making me think I'm just really gullible."

"Quite." Okabe turned back to the room. "Our second group is sadly missing 010, who again, hasn't been born yet, but we shall have to make do. 005, 008, you two make up our contingent of Frontline Combat Waifus!"

"Really _weird_ for you to call me that, uncle." Suzuha muttered.

"Hush, part time warrior. Shining Finger's abilities have already been demonstrated but I must ask; being not from a war-torn future, do you still..."

"Oh, I'm good." Suzuha grinned. "I've been training ever since I learned what my mission would have to be."

"Excellent." Okabe nodded. "You two will act as our swords and shields. Your jobs will be the most dangerous, so take whatever time and resources you need to prepare yourselves."

Suzuha cracked her knuckles, and Moeka nodded silently from the corner of the room.

"And finally," Okabe turned again. "The most important category of all. 002, 006, 007, and (you're receiving a field promotion here, miss Amane, congratulations) 011. You make up our Support Waifus!"

"Purrfection!" Faris jumped across and effectively threw herself atop her new compatriots.

Okabe continued, "Your duties are varied and plentiful. Faris, due to being in a position of importance (and also, ah, rich) your job will be to rally the police and neighbourhood watch. They should already be on alert from the fighting earlier today, so provide tipoffs and directions to motivate them into action. It is only with Akihabara behind us that we can hope to match the enemy force. Yuki, your primary goal is to keep Daru running effectively."

"I'll try my best!" The young woman smiled.

"Rukako, I hereby bid thee protector of the hearth and home. Ensure that all lab members present are suitably comfortable, hydrated, and provided with snacks." He put one hand on the boy's shoulder. "I also may require you to be the last line of defence should our position be overrun. Can you do that?"

Ruka gulped, and reached down to grip the sword hanging from his waist. Okabe noticed with some trepidation that it was an actual metal katana, not the usual bokken he trained with.

"I'm ready, Sensei."

"Excellent. And finally, Mayuri." Okabe turned and smiled at her. "002, you are to act as our mascot and provide motivation to the rest of the lab. If you feel dissatisfied with this task, do not be upset. Your true mission comes after. It is known as operation Arclight; and your main objective for now is to survive long enough to complete it."

She nodded, giving one of her patented 'smiles-that-outshine-the-sun'. "Don't worry Okarin! I'll make this the most motivated lab in the history of ever!"

"And with that, the final piece clicks into place." He stood up, and spread his arms wide, almost clipping Makise's head with his left hand. "Prepare yourself, Future Gadget Lab! Prepare yourself, the world! For tonight, war comes to Akihabara! And we shall rise to meet it!"

* * *

**And thus, the stage is set. You know, laying it out like this really reminds me of just how much shit Suzuha gets done. Woman is unstoppable.**

**Just to quickly adress one of the very few plotholes in this show; It implies that when they finally get the IBN and delete their first messages from CERN's database, that somehow changes the timeline. That...doesn't make sense, since you can't change something in the present and change the past.**

**I'm running with the interpretation that they sent an anonymous message back to Daru in the period just before Nakabachi's conference, going 'hey, here's where an IBN 5100 is, if you use it to hack into CERN you'll see they have data on you. Maybe get rid of that.'**

**If the game explains this in a way that the anime doesn't, let me know. Ciao!**


	5. Warfare (How Hard can it Be?)

**Warfare (How Hard can it Be?)**

* * *

**AD 2011.07.08 22:21:45**

_"All citizens in the Akihabara area of Tokyo and neighbouring districts are encouraged to stay inside and-"_

_"Reliable reports of organised terrorist action by individuals armed with automatic weaponry-"_

_"Believed to be related to the shootout occurring nearby earlier this very day-"_

Leskinen slammed his fist into his desk and glared at the screens tuned into local news stations. "Damn him! How did he get them to _believe_ him?"

His personal trailer housed himself and five of his subordinates, all organising the movements of his soldiers throughout almost half of Tokyo. Although, _organised_ might have been somewhat of a misnomer.

"Sir!" One aide shouted. "Squad 7 has been forced to retreat, pursued by police vehicles into the greater city!"

"What about 8 through 12?" He yelled back.

"Similar, sir!"

"How hard can it be to raid one repair shop?"

"Just about every road in has been barricaded by the police, sir!" The aide replied, apologetically. "We're trying to find alternate routes in now!"

"I don't care if our men have to jump across rooftops, just get it done!" Leskinen growled, and turned the other way. "You! What about the secondary targets?"

"Reports from squads 3, 4, and 5 coming in now sir." Replied the aide he was focusing on. "It's...the same as 1 and 2, sir! None of the capture targets are there!"

"What about _their_ families?"

"All the hot zones are completely empty, sir! None of the families are in their homes!"

"Dammit...where _are_ they?" Leskinen threw up his hands in exasperation. "Running around on the streets?"

* * *

**AD 2011.07.08 22:24:37**

"Alright meowsters; my advisors told me we can't afford to do this, but I'm doing it anyway!" Faris called out through a microphone, "Everyone here gets one free muffin or drink while they're waiting! All nya have to do to claim it is ask purrlitely and promise not to push and shove too much, kay?"

That was met with thundering cheers from near everyone in MayQueen's, whihc meant a _lot_ of people, given the place was packed. The families of Ruka, Yuki, Mayuri, etcetera were there, but they only made up a tiny fraction of the cafe's occupants, even hours after it should have closed. Not to mention the three police cars on the street outside, and the police therein who had all been invited in as well.

On the one hand, publicising the cafe as a safe haven during the terror panic had been an _inspired_ business decision; the extra custom Faris got from this would be _staggering_.

But more importantly...

She thumbed the radio on her lapel. "This is 007; neko of justice reporting in, nya!" She whispered into it. "Kyouma, all kittens are safe in bed, over!"

"_Excellent work, 007._" His voice came through. "_Be prepared to receive further instructions and pass them on to the police commissioner, over._"

"Roger, nya! Over and out!"

* * *

**AD 2011.07.08 22:32:16**

"Squad 6 is headed down a back alley, sir!" One aide called out to Leskinen. "E.T.A at alpha site in-Wait, squadron is under attack!"

"Police?" The professor snapped back.

"No, sir! It's an ambush, masks, automatic weapons, they-" the aide paused, then looked up, gulping. "Squad 6 no longer responding, sir."

* * *

**AD 2011.07.08 20:33:42**

"You know." Said Braun, giving Okabe a very hard stare. "I thought we had an understanding regarding M4."

"Did we?" Rintarou replied, looking around. They were alone in the CRT store. "Remind me."

"You told me you wanted me to release her." Braun explained, flatly. "Gave me very specific instructions about how I should let her go gently so she didn't break too much from it. Actually, yeah, now I think about it, you damn near threatened me. Told me that trying to set her against you would result in 'bad things happening to both of us'." His look could have etched glass. "And here I thought that was because you cared about her, when it turns out you just needed her talents for yourself."

Okabe gulped. "I assure you my motivations are not so selfish-"

"Then _explain_. What the hell just happened today?"

"If you insist." Okabe straightened and met his eye. "Despite all efforts to the contrary, we have caught the attention of Strategic Focus. They captured Mayuri, and I took what steps were necessary to retrieve her."

"Strat-oh you gotta be kidding me." Braun scowled and sat down. "You know what this means, right?"

"That the streets of Akihabara are about to run red with blood." Kyouma replied, as calmly as he could. "And that we have the liberty to choose whose."

Braun maintained eye contact for a few seconds, then broke it. "For god's sake." He groused. "How am I supposed to deal with you when most of the time you're a blabbering moron, and then sometimes you pull out an expression like that? Alright, what do you want from me?"

"Do you have any more rounders in Akihabara?" Okabe asked him. "I recall at one point you were able to muster a squad of five or so to accompany Moeka, but I understand if that's situational, or only became possible while you were chasing the IBM."

"This more of your time travel knowledge?" Braun huffed. "I've got about that amount in Tokyo, yeah."

"I need you to instruct them to group together, and place them under my command for the night."

"Are you out of your goddamn-" Braun burst to his feet, anger plain, but stopped when he looked back at Okabe's face. It wasn't a threat he saw there, but an honest warning.

"...What happens if I don't?" He hedged.

"Well, if we fail," Okabe shrugged, "you will have to explain to your superiors that you let a hostile agency gain access to a working time machine."

Braun grit his teeth. "Son of a...fine. Whose number do I give them?"

* * *

**AD 2011.07.08 22:39:29**

"Squad 8 has entered a multi-layer car park, sir, less than a click east of alpha site!" Called another aide. "This should put them past the barricade and-wait, squad 8 under fire!"

"From _who_?" Leskinen practically screamed.

"We don't know, sir! They can't identify any of the shooters!"

"Rintarou runs a meet-up club! With his _playmates_!" The professor shook. "Where the _hell_ is he getting all these soldiers?"

* * *

**AD 2011.07.08 22:39:55**

Suzuha threw a rock, setting off one car's alarm system, and when the two remaining soldiers turned towards it (away from her) she rolled out of cover and shot both dead with two perfect headshots.

"Uncle, this is Titor." She said into her radio. "Threat neutralised."

"_Roger that, Titor. Catch your breath then return to your rally point to resupply, we'll have further orders for you there._"

"Roger, on the move. Oh, and Uncle?" She grinned to herself. "I was expecting a twenty year old version of you to be still growing into his persona. But you're, like, _really_ cool when you want to be."

The radio crackled. _"Your analysis is noted, Titor. Never doubt me again."_

She laughed, and started running.

* * *

**AD 2011.07.08 22:42:59**

Leskinen walked over to the interactive map on one wall of the trailer and glared at it. "Am I seeing this right? There shouldn't be enough cops to block off all our angles of attack..."

"No, sir." Said one aide. "From what we can hear from the police channels, they're not actively defending alpha site at all. Some trusted source is telling them where to go, and they're getting in our way every time."

"But how do they know where we'll..." Leskinen's eyes widened. "He has a time machine. 'How many times do you think we've had this talk', he said...Dammit! He knows where we'll go because he's seen it! Rintarou's probably fought this battle dozens of times!"

"Should we retreat?" The aide gulped.

Leskinen's eyes narrowed again. "No, that's what he wants. He wouldn't need to retry the battle if he'd won it the first time. Victory _is_ possible. We just need to seize it decisively enough."

"Then...what do we do, sir?"

Leskinen smiled. "We escalate."

* * *

**AD 2011.07.08 22:45:35**

"Oh, this is too easy." Amadeus laughed. "Daru, you're forgiven, I am _loving_ these hacking programs you've written."

"Sure you don't need help?" Daru glanced at her avatar, a small popup in the corner of his computer screen.

"No, I'm fine. You focus on hacking into a shadow organisation; I'll keep monitoring these idiots' commands and transmitting them to the police. I'm certain my job's a whole lot easier than yours..."

"You're both doing amazing!" Ruka cheered, taking away Daru's empty cup and replacing it with a fresh one. He turned to the two girls knelt on the floor, scribbling on a very wide piece of paper, and called, "Do either of you need anything?"

"We're good!" Makise and Maho chorused.

They quickly devolved back into mutterings of "okay so if I know Alexis he would never have dared risking that while he was at work in Viktor Chondria...", occasionally looking up to shout something like "Daru! Check his bank details!"

Okabe stood at the centre of it all, relaying information from the Science Waifus to the rest of the operatives.

"Yes, Titor, stay there. You should have good sight lines on both straight roads and be able to respond to attacks from either direction...Roger, over and out." He clicked the radio off, and sighed deeply.

"Hey, Okarin?" Mayuri called out to him, from her position on a spinny-chair they had liberated. "I just wanted to say; I think you're doing amazing!"

He gave her a weak smile. "Thank you very much, Mayuri. I only wish I'd had time to take a nap before this all started..."

From the computer, Amadeus swore in English, loudly. "Okabe! We have a problem!"

He turned and strode over to the computer screen, leaning down to look at her. "What problem?"

"It's Leskinen! He's taking hostages!"

Okabe's blood froze. "Who? Did we fail to get someone out in time?"

"No-one of ours." Amadeus shook her head. "He's just...grabbing anyone!"

* * *

**AD 2011.07.08 22:47:41**

"_Move the goddamn cars! Move them or we fire!_"

The helmet cameras on the soldiers transmitted their voices back to the trailer, along with the terrified faces of the young men and women they had pulled from nearby houses.

Leskinen watched, impassively, as the police began to move.

"Sir?" One aide asked, tentatively. "You know that command actively discourages operations that are this large scale, especially ones where civilians are threatened-"

"Shut your mouth." Leskinen shot back. "Believe me, when they see what I bring back? They won't care even if I've blown up the whole of Tokyo."

* * *

**AD 2011.07.08 22:48:12**

"They're through!" Amadeus shouted. "They dropped the hostages, thank god, but there's two armoured cars moving in on the lab! E.T.A one minute!"

"Daru! Status report!" Okabe demanded.

"I haven't got anything yet!" The hacker panicked. "I need more time!"

"The cops?"

"Still too spooked by the hostage threat to follow!"

"Crap." He grimaced. "Alright, people. We're in emergency stage one. Hold fast."

* * *

**AD 2011.07.08 22:59:28**

The doors to the CRT shop were slammed open, and the soldiers ran in, quickly training their weapons on the one person visible: A tall, heavyset man in an 'I love CRT' apron, sat behind his desk. He raised his arms placatingly. "Whoa, there."

"Check the higher floors!" One shouted, before moving up to put his gun right in the man's face. "Where are they?"

"Who?" He deadpanned back.

"Okabe Rintarou! Makise Kurisu! Where?"

"What, the kids?" The brawny man looked entirely unimpressed by the weapon in his face. "They cleared out earlier this evening. Didn't explain anything." He tilted his head. "Take it you lot aren't part of his little club, huh?"

Upstairs, the soldiers pressed into the lab proper, but found it bare; the computers were gone, the cupboards and closets had been raided. Nobody was in the central area, the back room, or the shower.

There was a plate on the central table, with a single banana resting on it.

The soldiers pushed up further, charging up to the roof. Nothing.

"This is squad 9." One soldier said into his radio. "We've swept the entire premises. Alpha site is empty, sir. They're not here."

Not five metres in front of his face, the camouflage of the time machine flickered ever so slightly. That, too, had been improved in the future of the Steins;Gate timeline. In the darkness, and through the soldiers' helmets, it couldn't be seen at all.

* * *

**AD 2011.07.08 23:01:18**

Kilometres away, Hououin Kyouma grinned out a window. "Mad genius, Leskinen. Mad. Genius." He clicked his radio. "All units, this is Kyouma. We've reached emergency stage two. The enemy has the whole of Akihabara to search now, but if they get too desperate, they might start causing collateral damage. Continue to pressure hostile forces, but make sure they're left a way out; our ideal scenario is still that they give up and go home." He clicked it off, and turned. "You still have your time, Hack. Keep at it."

* * *

**AD 2011.07.08 23:02:44**

"WHERE IS HE?" Leskinen shouted at nobody in particular.

"Sir!" One aide shouted. "The Japanese military is inbound! We have less than a quarter of an hour before tanks and air support are in the streets!"

_Come on, think._ The professor turned back to the map. He hadn't wanted a prolonged engagement for this exact reason. He had the men to overwhelm any defended location in the city with ease, but the longer it took him to _find_ that location, the more time the city had to react around him. _Where could it be? Only the flat roofed buildings Rintarou might have access to...wait, I also have to factor in garages, warehouses, dammit, there's just too much ground to cover!_

He glared at the map, trying to remember if Rintarou had ever hinted at other safe locations in the city...

And, to his own surprise, he did remember.

A confrontation in a dark stairwell, as bullets flew on the floor above. A red haired girl, dead at his feet on a sunlit rooftop. A missile flying, and crashing into a tall silver machine...

"The radio building." He said aloud, quietly.

"Sir?"

"Akihabara's radio building!" He told his aides, more forcefully. "That's where he is! That's where he's keeping the target!"

"Affirmative, sir! Uh, how do you know-"

"Because that's where he's always-" Leskinen cut himself off, shaking his head. "Stop asking questions, follow orders! I want every single unit on their way there right now!" He reached for his side holster, and pulled his pistol out. "And that includes _us_. I'm doing this myself."

* * *

**This was really fun to write, guys. I was literally giggling the whole time. You don't realise exactly how many resources the lab has until they actually have to pull them out.**

**Okabe deploys Operation: Waifu Squad to great effect. Meanwhile Leskinen is coming to lots of conclusions, some wrong, some dangerously accurate. Next chapter is when everything comes to a head. Stay tuned.**


	6. Confrontation (El Psy Congroo)

**Confrontation (El Psy Congroo)**

* * *

**AD 2011.07.08 23:14:44**

"Yes!"

"No!"

Shouted Daru and Amadeus, respectively and simultaneously.

"Okarin," Daru shouted, "I was able to-"

"Not important! Okabe, they found us!"

Okabe (who had basically just been looking out the window of the upper floor of the radio building and laughing maniacally for the last few minutes) looked over in horror. "They _what_?"

"Just about all of their units are moving in our direction!" Amadeus said, throwing up a map on Daru's screen to demonstrate.

"Oh, you're kidding." Daru was sweating. "How did he know?"

Maho looked up, and her eyes widened. "Wait." She said. "The professor worked on Amadeus! Do you think maybe he's tracked her?"

"It's only been a minute or so since he realised we weren't at the lab." Makise pointed out, biting her thumb. "Even if he realised Amadeus was with us-"

"That's not it." Okabe interrupted, looking back to the window. He could see the first trucks roaring down the streets towards them. "He remembers."

"Remembers what?" Ruka asked.

"Yesterday." Okabe said, internally cursing himself. _Of course..._ "Everyone has Reading Steiner, to some degree. Everyone remembers bits and pieces of the lives they've never lived. I never thought that it might be used against us, however."

"Do we try and escape?" Daru asked.

"No, there's no time." Okabe thumbed his radio. "All units, this is Kyouma. Emergency stage 3. Those of you who have special objectives, follow them. If not, return to the radio building. 007, notify the police. The enemy has made themselves into a present for them, trapping themselves within this building."

"Trapped in here with _us_, man." Daru told him.

"Quite true." Okabe sighed. "We shall have to hold out. Positions, everyone. El psy congroo."

* * *

**AD 2011.07.08 23:32:59**

The Radio building was deathly silent, as Leskinen and his soldiers moved in. All exits were guarded, weapon lights were turned on, and footfalls echoed on the floors.

"Search everywhere." Leskinen told them, quietly. "Make your way up to the roof. Never let yourselves get caught alone. Kill anyone that isn't a target."

He crept forwards, flanked by guards. They rose up one flight of stairs, another. Still no-one. Leskinen wiped sweat off his forehead.

_What's he planning? What's he thinking? What does he know?_

It was at the start of the third flight of stairs when it happened.

His foot snagged on something, and pushed through. There were a click.

_Tripwire!_ And then he glimpsed something small and metal falling at the top of the steps-

"GRENADE!" One of his men shouted, tackling him down.

His head cracked painfully against the floor and he briefly saw stars, hearing the sound of the men nearby diving behind cover.

There were a few _tink_s, as the bomb bounced down the steps towards them. It quietly rolled to a stop. Then...nothing.

After a few seconds, Leskinen shoved his guard off him and stood up, walking over to the offending object.

A small, cutesy animal face smiled back up at him.

_Metal Upa_, his brain told him, like in a different world that had been a name worth remembering.

His eye twitched.

And then he _charged_ up the stairs.

* * *

**AD 2011.07.08 23:33:17**

Together in a room on the top floor of the radio building, the remnants of the lab were silent.

Makise and Hiyajo crouched behind an upturned table.

Daru typed frantically at his computer in the corner.

Ruka stood by the door, sword at the ready in shaking hands.

Okabe waited alone in the centre of the room, eyes hard.

And Mayuri...

"Oh no, my watch is broken." She pouted, from one corner, looking at her silver heirloom. "That's not fair, I just wound you..."

Okabe turned to look at her in horror. _What? No, but-_

Rapid footsteps echoed from outside and he didn't hesitate, shouting "EVERYBODY DOWN!" And sprinting straight for his childhood friend.

Ruka dropped his sword and jumped away from the door just as it slammed open, and Leskinen burst in. Rage plain on his face, he took one look at the room, picked the first person he could see, and pointed his pistol.

Mayuri screamed, the gun barked-

And Okabe slammed into her, knocking her to the floor. The bullet took him in the shoulder, sending him backwards to hit the wall, and "Alexis WAIT!" He shouted. "You can have it!"

Mayuri looked up at him, wide eyed. "Okarin..." but for once he completely ignored her, brain running at a thousand RPM as he focused entirely on Leskinen and his weapon, knowing that there was no way to repeat anything, that the lives of everyone who trusted him depended entirely on how he acted in the next few seconds.

"It's here!" He reiterated, desperate, "It's yours! Don't shoot or you'll lose it!"

Leskinen swept his weapon round the room once, then pointed it flat at Okabe. "Where, Rintarou? You tell me right now!"

"It's on the roof!" Okabe told him, raising his arms in surrender. Blood began to ooze from his left shoulder and the entire area burned, but he ignored it. This wasn't his first time getting shot.

The soldiers began to run in behind Leskinen, training weapons on the rest of the lab, as the professor demanded "How? We didn't see anything on the roof!"

"It can cloak!" Okabe told him, panting. "But you already know that, don't you? You've seen it before, and Kagari told you all about it."

"Kagari didn't-wait, who's-" Leskinen let out an uncontrolled scream. "Don't you _dare _play your mind games with me Rintarou! Or I swear to god, I will shoot everyone here in front of you!"

"That won't be necessary." Okabe stared him dead in the eyes. He slowly put one hand into his lab coat's pocket, and drew out what looked an awful lot like a set of car keys. "These are keyed to my fingerprints. If you shoot any one of my friends I give you nothing, and you won't be able to get into that machine before this city's forces crash down onto you. If you spare them though, I'll take you to it, open it up for you, teach you how to use it."

"Okabe, NO!" Makise shouted. "Don't let him-"

"_CHRISTINA!_" He cut across her. Then, slowly, "Trust me, Makise."

Leskinen twitched. He looked through the great window that made up one wall, seeing the red and blue flashing lights slowly getting brighter. "...Fine." He pointed to his guards. "You, grab Kurisu, and you, grab the fat one."

"Really, dude, c'mon-"

"You two are coming with me and Rintarou. Men, the rest of you wait down here with the other children. If anyone moves out of line, you shoot them."

He pointed back at Okabe. "If this is a trick..."

"Believe me, Leskinen." Kyouma told him, heart pounding. "I know how you respond to my tricks."

* * *

**AD 2011.07.08 23:45:32**

The night air was pleasantly cool. A light breeze blew across the roof of the Radio Building, applying a light flutter to Okabe and Makise's lab coats as they walked out onto the flat white surface.

Both of them, as well as Daru, had guns pointed at their backs.

"Alright." Leskinen told them. "Where is it?"

"Not ten metres in front of your face, Professor." Okabe called over his shoulder. "The technology of the future is a marvel, is it not?"

"_Just_-" Leskinen snapped, then carefully controlled himself. "Just open it."

"Very well." Okabe raised the keys. "If I may have some space?"

"Do what you need to. Slowly."

Okabe nodded, moving step by step further out onto the roof. "I'm curious, Leskinen, how far your grasp of Reading Steiner goes. Can you tell me what I told you, last time we were here?"

"You told me..." Leskinen closed his eyes in though. "You told me to cling to the last vestiges of my agency. That you would see me in Steins;Gate." He reopened them. "Is that where we are?"

"Well done, professor. And I certainly hope so." Okabe turned back to him, and grinned. "I also told you that it wouldn't even matter if you shot me. And I'm afraid to say; that that little tidbit is still quite true."

He threw the keys. Leskinen let out an impulsive "No!" As they tumbled past the fence and off the edge of the building.

"Oh don't be too alarmed, Lexie. Those were the keys to Daru's hentai cupboard."

"You stole my _keys_?" Daru shouted, as Leskinen, with a panicked look, said "What the _hell_ are you talking about?"

But he didn't pull the trigger.

Kyouma, still smiling, continued to back up across the roof. He pointedly did _not_ bump into any large, invisible objects. "The machine isn't here, Leskinen. It can turn invisible, yes, but it's currently sat on top of the lab where you first looked. I truly can't believe your men missed it!" He threw his head back and guffawed. "I told you I know how you respond to my tricks. I meant it.

I know that you fall for them, every single time. Temporary Lab Member Mister Braun is securing the real machine as we speak."

"Okabe!" Makise stressed. "We're still at gunpoint here!"

"_That's_ why you aren't afraid of me!" Leskinen howled. "You're just going to send the machine back and invalidate all of this, aren't you?"

Kyouma looked at him. Snorted. "Surely you jest, sir? Do you believe I have learned _nothing_ from the hell I have undergone?"

He threw his arms wide. "Listen well, everyone. If there was one thing to be gleaned from my 'adventures', it is this:

I cannot succeed simply by playing with the laws of time. If I desire Steins;Gate, I can only achieve it by relying on my friends."

Everyone stared.

"Specifically, the two friends currently behind me." He clenched both his hands into fists.

There was a distant _cra-crack_, and the two guards there on the roof collapsed to the floor with blood spurting from their foreheads.

Leskinen looked to see what had happened, and with another crack, the pistol was blown to pieces right out of his hand.

Two red dots came to rest on his forehead.

* * *

**AD 2011.07.08 23:51:48**

On the roof of a nearby building, a storey or two above, Suzuha Amane lay on the floor next to Kiryū Moeka.

Moeka kept her eye to the scope of her semi-automatic sniper rifle, while Suzuha pulled away from her own to thumb her radio. "Uncle, this is Titor. Y'all good down there?"

"Roger, Titor." Crackled Okabe's voice. "We're fine. And I apologise for my earlier questions as to your ability. That was one hell of a shot."

She smirked, and shot back, "Your analysis is acknowledged, Uncle. Never doubt me again."

* * *

**AD 2011.07.08 23:52:09**

Back in the radio building, on the floor below, the four soldiers left behind had noticed the disturbance up above them. Maho, Ruka and Mayuri tensed in their kneeling position, hands remaining behind their heads as the soldiers shifted and looked between each other, unsure what to do.

That was when Amadeus maximised on the computer screen. "HEY, MEATHEADS!" She shouted. "YOU MISSED ONE!"

Every guard turned, and all three of their captives dived away.

Maho threw herself straight for the innocuous box they had placed in the corner of the room and pulled the pin on top of it; smoke billowed out and obscured the entire room within seconds. Meanwhile, Ruka hit the floor in a crouch, and picked his katana up from where he had dropped it. With a "KIAI!" He jumped for their captors, swinging the blade like white lightning.

Mayuri simply ran for the stairs.

* * *

**AD 2011.07.08 23:52:16**

Okabe thumbed the radio. "Neko of Justice, what's the status of the police?"

"They should be with you nyow, Kyouma!" Faris replied. "Sure aren't listening to me anymore, the meowlitary's taken over!"

"Excellent, 007, you've done your part well. Tell all the relevant families we're safe."

"But-but-" Leskinen couldn't seem to decide whether to focus on Okabe or try and find the snipers aimed at him. "What about your precious Mayuri? My men have her downstairs, and the moment they-"

The door to the roof slammed open, and Mayuri appeared in the doorway, painting. She looked up, and sighed. "Oh...Okarin...you're okay...that's good..."

"And what, 002, did you plan to do if I _weren't_ okay?" He gave her a very pointed look.

"Rescue you, of course!" Mayuri beamed at him. "That's what you and me do, right? We rescue each other!"

Okabe smiled at her. "I suppose we do. As a matter of fact, we need to have a discussion about that later. I will need you to save me at least one more time."

Makise coughed, pointedly. "Uh, the rest of us are still here, you know?"

"Right, right."

The door to the roof clicked shut, then burst back open as Maho and Ruka ran through, the former pointing at the latter and shouting "What in the _hell_ did you teach this kid?"

"How to smite demons, mainly." Okabe shrugged. Gunfire began to sound from the ground floors, and he turned to the professor. "Now, Alexis. Would you be so kind as to order the surrender of the rest of your goons to spare the authorities the trouble?"

"Why?" Leskinen shot back, spittle flying. "And give myself away? There's nothing they can do to prove I'm linked to StratFor! What's your plan now, genius? Hold me at gunpoint while the police come up here?"

Okabe smiled, and looked pointedly at Daru.

The hacker grinned, and pulled his hat low over his eyes. "Hey Mini-Maho? Would you mind pulling up the news on your phone?"

"Huh? Uh, okay..." Maho fished her phone out of her pocket, but didn't even have time to turn it on herself before Amadeus popped up on the screen. "Ma'am! We did it! You have to see this!"

Audio began to play at the maximum volume the device would allow.

"_This just in: the fighting still ongoing in central Akihabara, coming to a head at this moment in the area's radio building, is not in fact a random act of terrorism, but a coordinated attack from an American intelligence group!" _Said a news announcer._ "Evidence has appeared linking the deceased and captured hostiles to Strategic Focus, a paramilitary and spy organisation from the states. What's more, authorities have discovered that visiting scientist Alexis Leskinen of Viktor Chondria university is linked to the hostiles! Forces are currently converging at all this man's known places of residence in an attempt to..._"

"No." Leskinen gulped. "How did you-"

"I'll admit, it was kinda hard to get into your organisation's database." Chuckled Daru. "Took me the whole of two hours. CERN did their security better, by the way. But yeah, all I had to do with the info was, you know, paste it all over everything I could find everywhere. Even if it's not enough to put you away right now, when Japan does it's own investigation you're gonna be screeeeewed."

Leskinen froze. "That's not-you can't-"

"Oh yeah, my turn." Makise walked up to him, and slapped him, hard. "That's for lying to us all, Jackass." She turned away, paused, then turned back and punched him full in the face, dropping him to the floor. "And _that_ was for shooting Kagari."

"You're not supposed to remember Kagari." Okabe pointed out.

"Eh." Makise fixed her hair and smirked. "Guess some things must have slipped through."

"You broke my nose..." Leskinen shook his head, hand clutching his face, and looked up.

The Future Gadget Lab looked down at him.

Mayuri got down to a crouch, put one hand to her mouth, and whispered "Psst! This is the part where you surrender!"

**AD 2011.07.08 24:00:00. **

**Brand New Day.**

* * *

**And the combat comes to an end. Fun writing trick: If you have a line, phrase or action that _always_ spells bad news (for instance, Mayuri's watch breaking) you can essentially Pavlov your audience into assuming that means it's gonna happen again. Good way to get rid of the 'but there's no way the good guys can lose' phenomenon people tend to have in the last moments. Call it 'the exact opposite of the boy who cried wolf'.**

**Next chapter, aftermath time!**


	7. Epilogue 1 (Reassure Me Properly!)

**Epilogue 1 (Reassure Me Properly!)**

* * *

**AD 2011.07.09 06:12:54**

Alexis Leskinen sat in a chair, in a medium sized interrogation room. He wasn't handcuffed to the chair, which was something, but with the locked door and the obviously two way mirrors, it was the second most oppressive thing he'd ever experienced.

He'd been left stewing here for thirty minutes.

There was a click, and he sat upright as a man entered the room. This man wore an unremarkable black suit, and had a face generic enough that it would be hard to pick out of a crowd. Exactly as expected, then.

"Took you long enough." Leskinen growled. "I've been in here all night, dammit, they-"

"Report." Said the man, calmly.

Leskinen gulped, and shut up. _Now_ it was the most oppressive thing he'd ever experienced. Reporting to his superiors always was.

"We...failed. I moved my outfit in to try and secure the target's time machine-"

"A time machine." Said the man. He look about as unimpressed as it was possible to look.

Leskinen grimaced. He'd been afraid of this.

"Listen. Doctor Nakabachi's thesis, a year ago, it would have worked!"

"The thesis that burned. Nakabachi, who the Russians abandoned because he couldn't reproduce it."

"It wasn't him, it was his daughter! Makise!"

"Makise, who has given lectures on time travel being _im_-possible."

"Yes, her!" Leskinen leaned forward, desperate. "She's lying, hiding what she knows! Listen, her and Okabe Rintarou, they were able to build a machine that could send messages into the past, and in the future they build a fully functioning time machine and send it back to now!"

"Where did you learn this information?" The man asked.

"Uh, Shiina! Mayuri Shiina! One of their lab members, she told me!"

"Mayuri...the teenage girl."

"Yes!"

"I...see. Where is this messaging machine?"

Leskinen growled. "They scrapped it. Tested it and then destroyed it once they learned what it did."

"And the time machine?"

Leskinen's eyes widened, of course, "That's still here! It's on the roof of their lab!"

"Their 'lab' has been under surveillance ever since your capture. There is no time machine there."

"Well of course you couldn't see it, it's invisible!" Leskinen blustered.

"An...invisible...time machine." The man clarified, slowly.

Leskinen began to get a sinking feeling in the pit of his stomach.

"Alexis Leskinen," continued the man, "last night you carried out an unauthorised operation in the heart of Tokyo. This resulted in the deaths of many operatives, the capture of yourself, worldwide media coverage, and the revelation of your association with us. You did not just suffer a defeat. You suffered an embarrassment."

Leskinen opened his mouth, "Rintarou-"

"Okabe Rintarou is a marginally above average college student, who puts on a funny persona for his friends." The man steamrolled over him. "His 'lab' consists of another college student, a few children, a journalist, a rich girl with ties to the police, and an admittedly very talented hacker. Their inventions consist of such marvels as a toy lightsaber, and a television remote that doesn't work. They are not time travellers. They are a play club."

The man stood up. "You are chasing phantoms, Leskinen. It is time that ceased."

"...What's going to happen to me?" Leskinen asked, quietly.

"Strategic Focus, and the greater American government, has declared that you have no relation to them." Said the man. "That you were a rogue agent acting without any authorisation or guidance. Which, frankly, is true. You have been thrown to the wolves, Alexis Leskinen. Or more worryingly, to the Japanese government."

"No." Leskinen gulped. "You can't just-"

"I would advise finding a lawyer, Professor. I imagine you will be undergoing a psychiatric evaluation soon, and will look forwards to seeing the results."

Leskinen sat, slack jawed. The man turned, and walked towards the door.

"Wait, no. No! Don't you see? This is exactly what they want!" Alexis jumped to his feet, shouting. "They're _manipulating_ you! Rintarou's been manipulating you for years! He's _won_, you hear me! He's won! EVERYONE'S DOING EXACTLY WHAT HE WANTS THEM TO DO!"

"...Goodbye, Professor Leskinen." The man closed the door behind him.

"_WE'RE IN STEINS;GATE!_" Leskinen threw the table to one side and slammed into the shut door, banging against it even as the security guards outside began to prepare to enter.

"YOU HEAR ME? WE'RE IN STEINS;GATE, AND THERE'S NOTHING WE CAN DO ABOUT IT!"

* * *

**AD 2011.07.09 09:36:27**

"So, it's over?" Mr Braun asked, when his daughter was suitably preoccupied with the television.

"It's over." Okabe nodded, sat across from him. "As far as we're aware, given that StratFor hasn't made any further attempts to contact-slash-murder us. What about your end?"

"The best part about using agents who obey you completely is that none of them are gonna snitch. Hell, none of them would know where to start if they wanted to." Braun replied, with a grim smile. "CERN wanted my version of events. I told them that StratFor was chasing fairy tales, that a couple of our guys got put out of action by accident, and that was that."

"Thank you." Okabe replied, genuinely, bowing his head. "I understand it probably would have been easier for you to-"

"Kid, if World War Three starts, what little life I have goes to hell." Braun chuckled. "I'll keep things stable for as long as I can, thanks."

"My gratitude still stands. And I'm sorry about all the suffering we've put you through."

"Suffering?" He chuckled. "You've made an awful racket a few times, but it's not what I'd call-" He paused. "Or are we talking about things that happened...but didn't?"

"Do you want to know?" Okabe told him, evenly, as the image of a smile and a gunshot passed behind his eyes.

"...No. No, I don't think I do." Braun replied, after a few seconds of thought.

"Very well. Good day, Mr Tennouji. And remember that if you or your daughter ever have any particularly disturbing dreams...dreams are all they are. Don't think too hard about them."

He turned to leave.

"Oh, so now you're using my real name?" Braun chuckled. "Heh. You're a good kid, Okabe. I'm not gonna say I want my daughter to wind up like you, frankly nothing would terrify me more. But I wouldn't mind if she copied your sense of responsibility."

"You'll have to convince her I'm not a crazy demon man first." Okabe grinned.

"Now, I'm not gonna _lie_ to my daughter."

"Oh, ha ha." Okabe paused at the door. "...One small question. Did you ever know a woman by the name of Suzu Hashida? She may have been around here since some time like 1975..."

It was a long shot, but he was curious. _Obviously this version of Suzuha wouldn't have any need to go back in time, but..._

Braun frowned. "Yeah, of course there was. I told you about her about a year ago, remember?"

_I see. The Suzuha from CERN's future went back to 1975. Nobody else has gone back far enough to rewrite that. No-one except herself, from when I send a D-mail to ensure she left earlier and landed safely. I guess 'addition' is the true order of time travel after all. Buried somewhere is a woman with memories of worlds that never existed, just like me. The one sacrifice in a war that was never fought. And I doubt the Steins;Gate Suzuha would want to abandon her life in the future and return to 'complete the loop' on this event. There's technically two of her in the world right now, but...they can hardly meet each other, can they?_

"You're quite right." Okabe said aloud. "You told me that she spent her last few days wondering if she 'changed anything', didn't you?"

Braun nodded, and Okabe smiled at him. "I'm not sure if it's any consolation, but...I can tell you now that she succeeded. And the world's a better place for what she did."

Braun's face tightened, and he nodded. "Thank you. That's...good to hear."

Okabe could read the mood. He waved goodbye, and left Braun to his thoughts.

* * *

**AD 2011.07.09 11:31:42**

"Again!"

"_Kiai!_"

"One last time!"

"_KIAI!_"

"Good! Take a break. You've earned it, my apprentice."

Ruka flashed a grin and wiped the sweat off his forehead, walking over to a nearby wall to grab a drink.

"You certainly seem very driven today." Okabe remarked, following him. "You know it's important not to wear yourself out."

"I'll keep that in mind." Ruka glanced back, taking a quick swig of water. "But are you really going to pretend you don't know what's got me antsy?"

"Surely not yesterday evening's debacle." Okabe let out a laugh. "Those opponents were nothing to a warrior of your calibre. Unless you are worried you might have accidentally copied their incompetence?"

Ruka looked down. "It's really nice that you do that." He said, quietly.

"Hmm?"

"Comments like that. Convincing us that you don't think any less of us, reassuring us that we did well, and letting us know we don't have to talk about it if we don't want to." The boy smiled. "All in a few words, tied up with a quick little jab at your opponents."

Okabe gave a lopsided smirk. "Come now, you don't really think I put that much thought into such simple sentences, do you?"

Ruka didn't reply.

A few seconds passed, and Okabe let the face slip. "Very well. Am I to take it that you _would_ like to talk about it?"

"Please." Ruka crossed his arms in front of himself. "I mean, it was a big deal. We were being threatened by men with guns, you and Leskinen were shouting at each other, we had to go into military custody for a few hours afterwards! And I..."

"Did an absolutely amazing job." Okabe reassured. "You saved Maho and Mayuri's life yesterday, Rukako."

"I know, it's just..." His eyes clenched shut. "I was so _scared_, Okarin. When Leskinen came through I-I dropped my sword! Do you know how bad that is? And then when Maho pulled the pin on that smoke machine I wasn't even thinking, I was just panicking and swinging-"

"If you were able to take down four armed men with nothing but panicked swings, then your training must certainly have-"

"Oh stop deflecting, dammit! Reassure me properly!"

Okabe blinked, then sighed, and wrapped his arms around his 'student'. Ruka reciprocated immediately, squeezing back as hard as he could. If there were tears in his eyes, Okabe would swear to court he hadn't seen them.

"It's perfectly alright that you were scared." He consoled. "We were all scared, I was terrified, and the fact that you were able to continue in the face of that is _incredible_."

"How did you know I could do it?" Ruka asked, face buried in his chest. "How...I mean, did you-"

"Are you expecting me to tell you of some alternate timeline where you did so?" Okabe offered.

Ruka moved in a way that might have been a nod.

"No, Rukako, that wasn't it." Okabe frowned, thinking of his brief glimpse into the broken future of World War Three. "There are many different versions of you that you could grow to become. I witnessed one who was the most fearsome warrior I had ever seen, but...well. I would pull down mountains to stop the circumstances that brought _that_ Rukako into being. I would spare you the events he had to go through, even though I imagine you may come to remember them at some point in the future.

It was not some outside knowledge that convinced me to trust my friends lives to you. It was because, well, I trusted my friends lives to you. The Rukako stood here, right now, is one that I've always believed in."

Ruka made a strangled noise, and hugged him tighter.

They stayed like that for a while, before Okabe relinquished his hold. "Now come on. I imagine your family might be rather suspicious if they just saw us stood here like this. Besides, you have more important things to do, like decide on what you're going to do with the life debt I now owe you! Hououin Kyouma does not forget such favours as the saving of his friends; think of all of the great feats I might perform at your whim, the eldritch secrets I could bestow upon you!"

Ruka laughed, wiping his eyes and moving back a pace. There was a moment of indecision on his face, before he suddenly lunged forwards and-

_Oh._

_'Okabe's lips, this is Okabe's brain, can I get a double check in what I think we're experiencing, over?'_

_'Copy, Okabe's brain. You're not wrong. Over.'_

The brief contact was over almost before that internal conversation was finished, and Ruka was pulling back with a heavy blush on his cheeks and Okabe brought a hand up to his face just to check his mouth was still working.

_I...just kissed a dude._

_Oh come on, like this is the strangest thing we've done this week?_

"Sorry." Ruka shook his head, turning away. "I just...had to check. Last night, it jogged some weird memories. Was there...was there a timeline where I was a...?"

Okabe coughed, and shook his head clear, going for a full system reboot. "Uh, yes. There was."

"Did you...prefer me? When I was-"

"_No!_" Okabe replied, hurriedly, then upon realising that might have been the wrong thing to say- "Or rather, I _don't_ prefer. That isn't to say, I mean, I certainly prefer you to be happy, it's just..." he sighed, and opted to go with the honest route. "I got into quite a lot of trouble for implying this, once, but...it's not your body that led me to respect you, nor is that what makes me care about you. And I do care, just...not in that way."

"...I understand." Ruka replied, quietly, still not looking back.

Okabe gulped. That hadn't sounded good. _Come on, mad scientist, your friend is upset! Fix it!_

"If you'd like, I...I'm certain if we sent our texts carefully, perhaps with an extra one to you to make sure you don't damage the IBM, and one to past-Daru to make sure to sweep them all up, we could probably stay in Steins;Gate while making you-"

"No. It's fine, really." Ruka turned back around, and he was smiling. "Come on, Okarin, don't start talking like that after your speeches last night about not relying on time travel. Besides, I'm a lab member. That means we're family, right?"

Okabe let out a relieved breath, and smiled back. "Well said. Family indeed."

"Then I'm not going to go pining over what I might be able to have. Grass is always greener, right?" Ruka spread his arms. "Besides, what we've got right now? I wouldn't change it for the world."

Now Okabe was the one who had to wipe his eyes (and Ruka would swear to court he hadn't seen anything). "I quite agree. So...that means no more kissing?"

"Well, not unless you ask."

"Hrk." Okabe made a strangled noise, and Ruka started laughing.

He scowled light-heartedly, but then shook his head and brought the persona back up. "Well, if you've the energy to make jokes at my expense, you've the energy to recommence training! Take up your sword, disciple! This next display had better have every demon in Akihabara shaking in their ectoplasmic boots!"

"Hai, Sensei!"

* * *

**AD 2011.07.09 13:54:17**

Kiryū Moeka was driving at the speed limit.

There were other things Okabe could be noticing, like how her hair was done up differently or her clothing was a little more...conservative, than normal. But she was _driving at the speed limit_, without being specifically ordered to, and it was hard for him to pay attention to anything else.

"Are you okay?" He asked.

"Mm." she replied, vaguely assentive.

"You didn't have any trouble last night? The police didn't find any of your..?"

"No."

"Okay." There was a pause. The scenery outside continued to pass by at a disconcertingly _legal_ speed. Okabe shifted a little nervously. "Moeka, where exactly are we going?"

"...There's something I need to do." She replied, after a moment, eyes on the road. "It's not dangerous, but I'd like to have you there. If that's okay."

"No no, it's fine." Okabe glanced at her. "I'm just curious why you're driving so...sensibly."

Her fingers tightened on the wheel. "...Because I'm delaying. I'm frightened."

"Frightened?" He chuckled. "You raided a warehouse full of over a dozen armed enemies yesterday without breaking a sweat. What could frighten you?"

Moeka smiled, barely, but didn't say anything.r

After a few more minutes, they pulled up outside a small, terraced house. Okabe had no idea where they were; somewhere in Tokyo, at least, and it didn't look like the nicest neighbourhood to live in. Moeka, getting out from the drivers seat, looked even more uncertain about this than he was.

"This is it." She replied, quietly. Her hand strayed towards her phone, then clenched, and she grabbed it with her other hand to hold both in front of herself.

She couldn't seem to bring herself to look at the door.

Okabe's 'lab member in distress' sense was tingling. "Shining finger." He said, in the Kyouma voice. "To reiterate an earlier sentiment: if the entire security team for the prime minister of Japan were in that room, I'd wager you would be able to disable them all nonlethally without getting a scratch on you. The great Hououin Kyouma trusted you with defense of his person. You are a _badass_. Nothing should be intimidating you."

She smiled, but it fell quickly. "I'm not worried I'll be hurt. Just..."

"Ah. The _ephemeral_ dangers." Okabe nodded. "Well, you are friends with a demon slayer, a millionaire, a hacker, and myself. That's quite the selection of skills. Whatever consequences for failure might arise, you can be confident that we will be able to overcome them." He paused and leaned in. "And...If you really don't want to go in there, you don't have to."

Moeka breathed in deeply, then out again. "Thank you." She said, looking at him. "That's...this is why I wanted you here. You've always been really good at making me feel better." She steeled herself, and looked back at the door. "But this is something I want to do. It might hurt, it might go wrong, but I...need to be able to say I tried."

"And why is that?"

"For you."

Okabe blanched.

"You know I'm not exactly...okay." Moeka continued. "Not...healthy. Becoming a weapon for a woman who'd only ever texted me, it isn't normal. But after spending time with you, and the lab..." Her hands tightened their grip on each other. "I want to be more. To be _better. _I owe you all that much."

Okabe snorted. "You don't owe us any _penance, _Moeka."

"Yes I _do_." She declared. "...I remember what I did to you. T-To Mayuri."

"...Ah." That..._how on Earth do you react to a girl telling you she remembers murdering your best friend?_

"I'm sorry." She said, quietly.

"It's-" it wasn't 'fine'. "I believe you. It didn't happen, at any rate-"

"But it _did_." She turned on him, eyes intense. "I've dreamed of that moment so many times, and it's always slightly different. Is that just my imagination, or, or...how many times did it happen? How many times did I pull that trigger?"

"You weren't the one turning the clock back, Moeka. How many times do you think I got my friends killed for just the tiniest advantage?"

"That's not the same-"

"How isn't it?" He grabbed her by the shoulders, making direct eye contact. "Kiryū Moeka, look at me. Beating yourself up over things that happened in other realities is no way to live, I know that from experience. What do you think Mayuri would say?"

"I already know! I've told her!" Moeka shouted back. "She...she just forgave me. On the spot. She's too...it wasn't fair! I deserved worse!"

"Then allow me to be the judge." Okabe told her, flatly. "I've seen all of it, after all. I've watched you, time after time, walk into our lab and fire your weapon with the coldest of looks on your face."

Moeka scrunched her eyes closed, grimacing.

"...But I've also watched you rocking back and forth on the floor of your apartment, waiting day after day for a message that would never come." Okabe sighed. "And it upset me. So I changed it. You're not my enemy, Moeka. You are lab member 005. And standing in front of you now, whether or not it makes any sense...I can't hate you. Which means I won't have you beating yourself up as punishment, is that clear?"

"...Clear." She nodded. "Thank you. I...still can't believe you think I'm worth all this."

"Now now, doubting yourself before a big task isn't going to do you any favours." He took her hand, meriting a very surprised look, and walked purposefully towards the door. "Repeat after me. 'I am lab member double-oh-five'."

"I-really?"

"Yes, and be snappy about it!"

"I-'I am lab member double-oh-five'." She followed him up to the door.

"'I am a talented woman with a varied skillset'."

"I am a talented woman with a varied skillset."

"'I am going to knock on this door, and confidently face whatever's behind it'."

"I-" Moeka stopped talking. Instead, she took in a deep breath, and reached a hand out to knock.

Okabe tried to position himself more to the side as she did so, trusting her to face whoever answered it herself. In truth, he was more than a little concerned about what she actually expected to see in there.

So distracted was he, in fact, that he didn't notice her hand was still holding his until the door opened.

"Yes?" Said the woman who opened the door. "What-" She cut off with a gasp.

"Hi mom." Said Moeka, quietly, but determinedly. "Hi dad. It's been a while."

* * *

**Why do I do this to myself.**

**Canonically we don't know exactly what Moeka's home life was like, only that she got bullied at school and ended up in a serious funk. I'm headcanoning a bit here, but hey, that's what fanfiction is for. Doing a similar thing with Addition and the existence of Past-Suzuha; but it makes more sense that she's here. After all, Braun implies he only got where he is with her help.**

**And sorry I'm a little late, laptop crapped out yesterday evening when I spilled water on it. Wouldn't stop attaching random Rs everywhere.**

**There should only be one or two more epilogue chapters after this; I never planned it to be more than ten chapters long.**


	8. Epilogue 2 (A Ship of Fools)

**Epilogue 2 (A ship of fools)**

* * *

**AD 2011.07.09 17:37:28**

"And this is your room~!" Faris threw open the double doors and turned around to make a dramatic pose in the doorway. "You have a big desk and wardrobe, double bed, and en-suite bath and shower! If you ever need me, my bedroom is-"

"Just down the hallway, second room on the left. I know." Maho gave her a tired smile, pulling her luggage forwards.

"Huh?" Faris put a hand on her mouth, tilting her head. "You do? Did I tell you already?"

"Uh...no, I don't think so." Maho frowned. "Weird. Just got the strangest feeling I've been here before...anyway, you said there's a bath in here, right?"

"Nyabsolutely!"

The pair worked quickly, and soon Maho was unpacked. Or, well, her stuff was strewn chaotically about the room, but neither particularly minded.

"Thanks again for doing this." Maho smiled gratefully. "With all the chaos my timetable's in, it's a relief to have a place I can stay without worrying about money or deadlines."

"No problem at all, you're welcome whenever you like!" Faris said, dropping down on the bed next to her. "If anything, you're the one doing me a favour. It gets real lonely in here, sometimes, just me and the servants and the walls...are you planning on staying long?"

"Frankly, I have no idea." Maho chuckled, flopping onto her back. "The university's kind of in uproar at the moment after what happened to Leskinen. Some people want _me_ to take his position, can you imagine that? Me! I'm sure it's gotta be some bias of association." She sighed. "And to be honest...I don't really wanna leave for America yet."

"Still enjoying the sights?" Faris offered.

"Still enjoying the _company_." Maho corrected. "I think Makise said it the best; the FGL isn't like any lab I've ever worked in, but it's so much fun. You'll spend your afternoons just hanging out and then one day, someone will have some crazy idea. Then the whole place is a flurry of excited motion, everyone throwing their thoughts out left and right, people rushing off to shops ten minutes before they close because they absolutely _have_ to get some component or another. I see why Makise spends so much time out here."

There was a double buzz from Maho's pocket and she didn't bother to check it; just pulling it out, swiping it unlocked and dropping it on the bed beside her.

Amadeus popped up on the screen. "Ma'am has a point, Miss Rumiho." Said the redhead avatar, addressing Faris. "I imagine most days aren't as interesting as last night, and hopefully nowhere near as dangerous, but just from eavesdropping over the last week or so it's been the must fun I've had in a long time. You have a great group of friends."

Faris grinned back. "Oh, yeah. The greatest. I don't know where I'd be without the lab."

Maho put her hands behind her head. "Well, it turns out me and the professor do agree on one thing. I _need_ to get Okabe at my university. I'd have taken him just on the fact that Makise actually respects him (in a weird, backhanded way), but after seeing him in action? Not letting that brain pass me by."

"So you plan on taking my Kyouma away from me?" Faris gasped. There was a brief moment where Maho noticed some very real sadness in the girl's eyes, before the playful mask came back up and she was sighing and putting a hand to her forehead. "I suppose I shall have to persevere. I am but a simple catgirl, who am I to interfere with the will of science?"

Maho looked very closely at her. She'd never been super skilled at reading social cues, but after spending some time with Akiha Rumiho...

"You love him, don't you?" She said. Then immediately clapped her hands to her mouth, continuing "I'm so sorry, that was really presumptuous, I didn't mean to pry or anything, I just-"

"No, it's fine." Faris leaned back against the headboard and smiled into the middle distance. "You're right. I do. But come on, that's not exactly out of the ordinary for a lab member, is it?" She gestured. "I mean, you love him too, right?"

"That's completely ridic-" Maho immediately began stammering denials, but stopped. Recalled the face of the man who had quite literally saved her life. Who had _understood_ her, and then assigned her a task based specifically on what he knew she was good at. Okabe had never glossed over Salieri to lavish his attention to Mozart. He had _seen_ her.

"W-We've only just met!" Was all a blushing Maho was able to manage in her own defense.

"Aww..." cooed Amadeus, while Faris broke out into giggles. "Does Maho-Sensei have a crush?"

"Oh, don't try and act like you aren't interested in him too!" Maho snapped, causing the woman in the phone to blush profusely.

"Oh don't be embarrassed!" Faris waved them both off, grinning like a Cheshire Cat. "Like I said, it's par for the course. I don't know anyone in the Lab who doesn't have some kinda crush on him. 'Cept maybe Daru, but I think there's a _solid_ man-crush there. Good old bromance material!"

"Not that it matters." Maho huffed, turning away. "He's only got eyes for one girl, anyway."

"Oh yeah? Who?"

"Duh. Makise." Maho shrugged, at the exact same time Amadeus said "Duh. Mayuri." Then they both looked at each other and immediately started bickering about it.

"Well, if he's willing to share those two, I see no reason why he couldn't accept a little more love in his life." Faris interrupted, reasonably. "I wouldn't mind being your harem-sister, Maho-chan~"

"_FARIS!_"

The two shared a look, and then burst out laughing.

* * *

**AD 2011.07.09 20:45:58**

"Alright, pretty sure we're not being watched." Suzuha said, eventually, and pressed a button on some handheld device. The time machine flickered into existence on the rooftop in front of them.

It's appearance was met with sounds of startled awe; all eleven members of the core Lab were present to see it. Okabe had felt that they deserved at least that much after what they had all gone through.

"If you think that's impressive, just wait until you see what happens next!" He called to them all, before turning to Suzuha. "Is she ready?"

"Ready and waiting." Suzuha slapped the hull of the machine. "Co-ordinates set for twenty first of August, 2010. She'll get us there just fine, but again: I can't promise she'll get us back here afterwards."

Okabe looked down to Mayuri. "Are you sure you're willing to do this? There's absolutely no pressure, if you're having second thoughts-"

"I'm sure." She smiled back at him. "This was planned by you in the future, and there's no way you would ever let me get lost in time and space!"

He smiled back. "Quite right. You're my hostage, remember? No matter where you escape to, I will always bring you back."

She giggled, and nodded.

"Are you sure you know what to say?" Suzuha asked her, expression serious. "Remember: if we don't go, Okabe's first attempt to save Makise will fail, which means he'll shift things to the WW3 timeline, which means WW3 Okabe will have to send a message back to them in tandem with WW3 Mayuri and-" She sighed. "Look, there was this one time Dad, Makise and Uncle spent three weeks locked in a room with nothing but food and a drawing board trying to work out the absolute _mess_ that this section of time would look like. Then when their food and pen ink ran out they just walked out and said 'Screw it, we're doing it this other way instead'."

Okabe snorted. "Looking forwards to _that_."

"Now, I'll also be doing my part." Suzuha held up her phone. Now Okabe took the time to pay attention, it was sleeker and higher definition than any phone he'd ever seen._ Perks of the future, I guess._ "Remember the message you got, Okabe, the one from the future you that went 'Hey, here's how you should bamboozle yourself?' I'm sending that across to your phone. That should unlock it's weird time-distortion encryption (aka the most ridiculous thing Dad ever came up with) and let you see it, which should give you the inspiration you need to come up with a plan. Listen Mayuri, you should remember what you told yourself when you were the one on the receiving end. Just sort of...repeat that, okay? I know it happened almost a year ago, but-"

"It's fine." Mayuri nodded. "I remember. And even if I didn't, I'll be able to say what I need to. Okarin...these last few days, I've been getting these nightmares. They're just about us in the lab, nothing too bad happens, only...Makise isn't there. And you're all _distant_, and there's this _gloom_ over everything, and when I wake up I'm left feeling really really sad..." She looked up at him. "Is it...what you were living in? Is that what it's like if I don't go back?"

Okabe grimaced. Nodded. As useful as reading Steiner was..._come on, maybe spare the poor girl those particular details? We're only lucky she doesn't seem to remember what happened in the CERN timeline..._

"Then I absolutely have to go." Mayuri decided. "And I absolutely know what to say. I'd do anything to stop you going through that again."

Okabe chuckled embarrassedly. "This is hardly all about _me_-"

"You're _never_ doing it for you!" Makise pointed out, walking away from the crowd towards the three. "Seriously! From what you said it took Russia messing with time travel for you to do something even _remotely_ selfish, and even then you felt guilty and fixed it right after."

"Hm. Point conceded." Okabe shrugged. "Now come on, we're burning daylight! If Operation Arclight is ago, it must commence right away!"

"Yes sir!" Said Suzuha, saluting, and Mayuri immediately mimicked her in a particularly cute way.

The dynamic duo entered the machine.

"Okay, okay, ready everyone?" Yuki hushed the lab, catching Okabe's attention. "Okay, three, two, one,"

"_GOOD LUCK!_" Shouted everyone outside at once, before exploding into laughter and chatting.

"Thank you very much!" Suzuha shouted, waving. "See y'all last year!" She pressed a button, and the hatch closed.

Okabe took the opportunity to step up. "Ladies and gentlemen, prepare yourselves! What you are about to witness is the final act of time travel that will occur for many years! Behold!"

The machine began to hum, and then it began to glow. The lab went "Ooh!" as white particulates began to fly around, bright light making the machine almost unbearable to look at. Okabe didn't dare to look away. He had spun around almost immediately after finishing his speech, and was focusing intently. _Don't explode, vanish normally, don't make me Read Steiner..._

Another moment, and with a final flash of light, the machine was gone from the rooftop.

There was a hesitant silence, then the crowd erupted into applause.

"Alright, alright, quiet, miracle isn't over yet!" Okabe snapped over his shoulder, not moving. "Our story may be that we're illegally setting off fireworks, but let's not get caught unless we can help it!"

_Don't explode, reappear normally, don't make me Read Steiner..._

"Hey." Makise walked up and put a hand on his shoulder. "Don't get stressed. They'll be okay."

He grit his teeth. "They're flying into the past with a prototype machine I've seen break more than once without even enough fuel to-"

"_Hey_." Makise repeated. She grabbed his chin and made him look at her. "Okabe. This is something _we_ are going to plan. Have a little faith in yourself. Have a little faith in the _lab_." She smiled. "We got this far, right?"

He made to respond-

And was interrupted by another glow.

Okabe sagged with relief, then desperately tried to clamp down on his expectations because something could still have gone wrong-

_Make the final triumph mean relying on other people, you thought. Show thematically that you've grown from trying to control everything and take all the burden yourself. Here's a tip, me from the past: It's Terrifying._

And it was, because appearing in front of them all _wasn't_ the same time machine.

He backed up, and gestured to the rest of the group to the same, as a very different (though still clearly of similar design) metal container appeared on the roof in front of them. This one was bigger, bulkier, more primitive looking. Along its flank were the words: _Future Gadget 204, 1st edition ver. 1.64._

Okabe's jaw dropped as he realised that this was a _precursor_ to the ship that had just left. _What in the world..._

Then the ramp dropped, and his worries fell away.

"MAYURI!" He shouted, running forwards, and

"Okarin!" Mayuri ran right down the ramp and crashed into him with a hug.

Everyone else from the lab crowded around as well, all firing off their own demands and questions at her.

"It was amazing!" She gushed right back at them. "We went back, and I got on the phone and talked to me from the past, and it was just the way I remember it going, but then Suzuha said we had to go, and there was a lot of turbulence and then a big crash, and she said we were in 18000 BC! And we were in this big desert, then there was a big bright light, and then we looked outside and there was another machine, this one! And you were there, Okarin, only you looked a bit older, and you went 'Did you doubt me, my loves?' And then we all went into that machine and-"

Okabe extricated himself from the crowd, moving towards the ramp, where he could see Suzuha (also mercifully intact) leaning in the doorway with a smile on her face.

"I told you I trusted you." She shrugged.

"Oh don't try and act like you weren't scared." He teased her light-heartedly. Then he squinted into the dark interior of the machine.

"Is there, perchance, one 'Okabe Rintarou' inside there?" He called towards the entrance.

There was a brief pause, before a very familiar voice called out "_No!_"

Okabe grinned. "I see. Then what about one 'Hououin Kyouma'?"

"_CORRECT!_" Called the voice. "Greetings, Mister Rintarou! How goes the science of your era?"

Okabe couldn't help but snort. "Quite well! Might I thank you for safely returning my errant hostage?"

"You are quite welcome! You see, at one point someone saved _my_ hostage, and I have made a point of behaving in a similar manner from then on!"

"Oho? I do believe I might adopt that policy myself!"

Suzuha buried her head in her hands. "Oh, great, there's two of them..."

"A quick word of apology," Continued Kyouma, still hidden in the shadows of the machine, "I picked up _your_ time machine while we were still in the past! Can't have it's carcass lying around for the early humans to find; time travel tech in the ice age might cause a few distortions!"

"Very wise!" Okabe agreed. "Where is it now?"

"It's currently back on the roof of the radio building! Quite destroyed by now, but it's camouflage is still working for a few more hours, so I'd advise you all heading over there and finding a way to move it from the crime scene!"

"I'll keep that in mind!" Okabe took a step backwards, then stopped. "Do you have any advice going forwards? We still have trying times ahead, and-"

"Absolutely not!" Kyouma's voice sounded offended. "I will do nothing so disrespectful!"

Okabe blinked. "I'm sorry?"

"The possibilities stretching out ahead of you are infinite, Rintarou! You have the freedom and responsibility to make your own choices from now on, I will not cheapen that experience! You have fought long and hard for this time; abstain from knowledge of what you _must _do, and live as you see fit!"

Okabe paused, then laughed aloud. "Quite right! Forgive me for even asking! Godspeed, Kyouma!"

He dropped his volume, turning instead to Suzuha. "I take it you're headed back to 2036?"

She nodded. "It's been a wild ride. Everything's going to be crazy when I get dropped off. I can't even say I'll miss you, because you were the one waving me off when I left and you'll be there when I get back. I mean, I'm going to open that door and have to try and talk to a guy who's been _you_-" she pointed at him, "and _him_." She pointed back into the machine. "It's one heck of a case of whiplash."

"I know the feeling. I've had to work with three separate Suzuhas over the last year or so." Okabe chuckled. He met her eyes. "Be safe, okay? If you're allowed, send us back a D-mail to let us know you're okay."

"I'll see what I can do." She turned out to the crowd. Daru was there, stood next to Yuki, and Suzuha gave them both a wave, before shouting, "That's it from me, guys! See you all in twenty six years on your end, and a couple minutes on mine!"

That was met with cheers, and she bowed out, returning to the inside of the machine. Okabe stepped back as the hatch closed once again, and made his way over to Makise.

There was a brief moment where he simply thought, composing himself.

"The Universe had a beginning, but as far as we know, it has no end." He mused, drawing her attention. "Is it infinite? It's component parts, the planets and stars, also have beginnings, but meet an end in time. They're finite."

"Your point?" She asked, hesitantly. "Or is that just some wise quote?"

"Well, if history has shown us anything, it's that scientists often make very poor poets." He chuckled. In front of them both, the time machine began to glow. "We're a ship of fools chasing phantoms, heedless of what underwrites natural law. Perhaps if we ever did understand the truth behind all this, we'd simply be driven mad. I mean, for humans to exceed the speed of light...it's more foolish than for fish to start living on land! And yet, here we stand. A testament to humanity's obstinance."

The time machine turned translucent, the last rays of the sun splashing across the pair's faces through it as they watched it's departure. Beside them both, Mayuri reached out with one hand, clenching it into a fist in an attempt to catch the sunlight.

"What I'm trying to say is," Okabe said, glancing across at her. "given that we are specs in an uncaring universe that were mad enough to develop intelligence, and are brilliantly unique in our ability to actually _choose _to do whatever we wish...

Would you maybe like to grab a drink with me some time?"

The time machine vanished in a flash of light. Makise turned to face him, and smiled with tears in her eyes. "Okabe Rintarou...I thought you'd never ask."

* * *

**And thus, this short tale comes to an end. An attempt to sort out time travel theories turned into an attempt to make myself cry.**

**It worked.**

**Yes, I was paraphrasing Okabe's intro (and Maho's outro) speech there. What, it's absolute gold!**

**There will be one more chapter next week, featuring a complete timeline of the events that happen in the Steins;Gate worldline (at least, in this fic). It will also contain one final epilogue short for you to enjoy.**

**Other than that, I hope the resolution was to your satisfaction! **


	9. Timeline (I'm Fifty Years Old!)

**Complete Steins;Gate timeline**

**I.E: for the specific worldline, 'Steins;Gate', not the timeline as Okabe remembers it.**

**(Note that this is using the Rules Of Time as I see them in this story, and the headcannoning and ficcing I've done from there. We can't know what the actual timeline looks like from just what the show tells us.)**

* * *

18,000 BC: Suzuha and Mayuri arrive from 2010 after an unpredictable jump. Okabe from 2025 appears in a prototype time machine, picks them up, and takes them back to the future.

1975: Suzuha from the CERN Takeover timeline appears in Steins;Gate with her memories intact. She finds the IBN 5100 and ensures it finds its way to the Urushibara Shrine. She dies sometime before 2010, confident she was successful in her mission.

1999: Suzuha from 2036 in this timeline appears to fix the Y2K problem. (This was an event that worried plenty of people in the real world; that when the computers switched to year 2000, they would crash. In this universe this was a real problem, but she dealt with it.) As she didn't bring Kagari with her (and, in steins;gate, Kagari hasn't been mind controlled) nobody goes missing here.

1975-2010: various people get various nonsensical messages from other timelines. Ruka's mother gets spam messages about eating meat and vegetables, Faris's dad gets a message telling him not to go back to his daughter, then another saying he absolutely should (he then dies), Moeka gets a message telling her to raid the Urushibara shrine for the IBM then another message from FB telling her not to. None of these messages cause significant changed actions and the attractor field 'sweeps them up'.

2010, July- about a week before Nakabachi's conference, Daru gets a broken up message about Makise Kurisu's death. He ignores it.

Daru later gets another message (from the CERN Takeover timeline) revealing the location of the IBM 5100 and a tip-off that CERN has collected info on him. He gets it, hacks in and deletes their record of the time-travelling text(s).

2010/07/28- Nakabachi's conference date. Okabe and Suzuha arrive from the future (08/21) to save Makise. Makise is left unconscious, Nakabachi gets the green Upa (meaning the thesis will burn), and Okabe from the present sends the message about Makise's (perceived) death to Daru, which is received a week before. As CERN's records of it are lost, there is no timeline change, and so Suzuha from the CERN takeover timeline never crashes on the roof to kick off that part of the story.

2010, August- More people get nonsense, contradictory messages that are either ignored, or insignificant enough that they cause no changes that CERN notices. It's likely in this month that Daru gets another message, this time from the World War Three timeline, telling him to hack into Viktor Chondria and delete the Amadeus program. This is largely irrelevant, since in this timeline America and Russia never get tipped off about time travel, but it certainly pisses Makise and Maho off.

2010/08/21: Okabe Reads Steiner across from the CERN Takeover timeline, believing he has just reached a world where Kurisu is now dead. He is confronted by Suzuha (Steins;Gate version, coming up from 1999,) who tells him (lying) that WW3 is coming, and he needs to go back and ensure Nakabachi's paper burns and Makise lives. Mayuri receives a call from herself (her and Suzuha have come back from 2011) giving herself the motivation to motivate Okabe, and sending herself a certain video of Okabe from the WW3 future (it's the one he would have seen only after first failing, but going back and screwing up would mess with the loops, even if he went back and redid it). Okabe and Suzuha go back to save Makise, succeed, then return. Okabe goes to hospital with a stab wound and Suzuha goes on to 2011.

2011/07/07: (Fic Start) Okabe Reads Steiner across again, this time from the WW3 timeline. Suzuha comes up from 2010, explains the truth about her time travelling, and takes Mayuri back to 2010 to motivate Mayuri to motivate Okabe. Mayuri is later dropped back off here from 18,000 BC by 2025 Okabe.

2025: Okabe gets in a prototype time machine and travels back to 18,000 BC to pick up Mayuri and Suzuha.

He later returns here alone.

2036: Suzuha goes from here to 1999 to begin her journey. 2025 Okabe then drops her back off, just after she left, before returning to 2025.

Beyond that...who knows?

* * *

**Twenty first of August, 2002.**

**11:22:58**

"I've left your groceries on the side, Miss Hashida, and here is your post from this morning."

"Oh, thank you, Yugo, you're an angel." Suzuha smiled up at the man from her position on the bed. "And I've told you, you can call me Suzu. We've known each other for long enough, I should think."

Yugo Tennouji chuckled, as he sorted her spam out into the bin for her. "Well, since you were busy dragging my behind out of the gutter for that whole period, I think I'll stick with the honourifics."

She rolled her eyes at him. He'd finally made the decision to completely shave his balding head a few weeks ago, (_at what, 24? Yeesh_) and was suddenly looking a lot like she had remembered him as in 2010. "You know," she added, smirking, "If you're gonna call me that, I'll just have to keep calling you 'Mr Braun'."

"Oh, ha ha." He gave her a look of mock annoyance. "Seriously with the Ferdinand Braun thing? That nickname is never going to catch on."

"Oh, I think you'll be surprised." Suzuha had always been curious about what Tennouji's face must have looked like, when a young Okabe Rintarou had first started calling him by the nickname. _Probably the only reason he even let him rent the room..._

As always, when she started thinking about the lab, her eyes drifted to her bedside table. The divergence meter sat there, as ever proudly displaying the number 1.13840.

"You know, in all the years of you owning that thing, I don't think I've ever once seen the number change." Yugo mused, putting her mail down next to it. "But you still keep checking it like you expect it to run away the moment your back's turned."

"I _don't_ expect it to move. It's very silly of me." Suzuha sighed, deciding that it wouldn't hurt anyone to give him a simplified explanation. "It has a different value in different...locations. Issue is, it only shows you the divergence between your current location and the last one it was set up in. I need the number to be bigger than a certain value relative to a very specific place...but I can't ever go back there. So I'll never know for sure whether it is or not."

That was the biggest flaw in the divergence meter. The number it showed her was the divergence between her current timeline and the one she'd came from, the future where CERN ruled the world. But she had no way of knowing what it was relative to the standard zero of the unaltered timeline, and that was the value that needed to be higher than 1%. The value no person could keep track of as they jumped from worldline to worldline.

Well, one could, but she wasn't Okabe Rintarou. Never had been.

"Sounds like it's just gonna make you upset." Yugo observed. "Always reminding you of something you can't know."

"Oh, it absolutely does that." Suzuha sighed, with a wry smile. "But I just can't put the thing away..."

"Hm. Oh, right, another thing." Tennouji reached into the front pocket of his apron, his expression...guilty? "I...bought you something."

He pulled out one of the newest models of mobile phone.

"Oh, Yugo," she bemoaned, "you shouldn't have-"

"I know you don't like charity, but I'm not taking no for an answer here." He told her, in that no-nonsense way of his. "This is a gift. A...thank you gift, I suppose. Listen, you've been way too good to me. Even when I was a dumb kid, with no future, no idea what he wanted to do with his life, and..." he sighed, rubbing his forehead. "Christ knows what it is you saw in me. But I'm more grateful than I can put into words."

"You were a good kid." Suzuha defended, "And you're a good man now. But you don't have to-"

"I know I don't _have_ to get you anything." He said, gruffly. "Well tough luck, I'm doing it anyway. At the very least, you need a proper way to communicate while you're stuck in bed like this." He gave her a concerned look. "I don't want another coughing fit to come on and for you to have to suffer in silence."

"Give the dying old woman an SOS, is that it?" She asked, dryly.

"You're _not_ dying." He insisted, eyes hard. "You've survived worse than this. And you're not that old, either."

"When you pass fifty, Yugo, you'll feel old." She sighed. As determined as her staunch protector may be, she knew she didn't have long. Eight years at the maximum, since she was dead by 2010, but it was implied to be much sooner than that.

Which meant that whatever she had now, which had her feeling like she would cough her insides out at a moments notice...this was probably it.

"Alright." She gave in, holding out a shaking arm. "Help me set it up."

They spent a few minutes doing so, as he took her through all the basics she already knew (_It's not even a smartphone. It doesn't even have a _touchscreen_._) but probably shouldn't know, given she'd learned them in the future. After which she opened her arms and demanded a hug, to which he complied, before telling her he was heading out to get some heavy lifting done in the shop.

"Yugo?" She told out to him, as he was leaving. "You _are_ a good man. Don't ever forget that."

He gave her a sad smile. "You don't know me as well as you think you do."

"Oh, you'd be surprised." She smirked. "Now go on. You have work to do, Mr Braun."

"Ugh. Right." He kissed her on the cheek (_awww!_) and moved to go.

"Oh, Yugo?" She called our to him, as he was in the doorway, eyes focused on her screen. "Is it normal to have eleven voicemails already on a new phone?"

He shrugged. "The ID's definitely a new number. Maybe it's just introductory stuff from your provider?"

"Hm. Maybe. I'll give them a look, see you later."

"Yeah, see you."

He left, shutting the door behind him, and she laid backwards on her bed, idly pressing play on the phone and closing her eyes.

"_You have -eleven- new messages._" Said the robotic voice. "_Message -one-: *click*_."

"Hello, part time warrior."

Her eyes snapped open and she gasped, _Uncle-_

"Indeed, it is I." Okabe's voice played through the speakers, "Recording this in the year 2022. You have no _idea_ how much pestering it took before Braun told us you had a mobile phone near to the end. Of course, when we learned, we immediately knew we had to send you a quick something. Enough work on the phonewave 2.0 and we were able to transport back audio messages."

"Oh my god..." Suzuha laughed hysterically, hand over her mouth and tears in her eyes.

"Now, you had better not make any changes and mess with the worldline because you've received these." Okabe's voice warned. "If I have to do any more D-mail damage control, young lady, you will be in very big trouble."

"I'm fifty years old!" She shouted into the receiver, still laughing.

"But assuming you behave..." he continued. "Well. For starters, you should have received a message from all the lab members. As time passes and we develop upgrades to the machine, we might be able to send you a video (assuming whatever _barbaric_ technology you're using can handle such a thing) or even have an actual phone call with you. Such developments could take years, but at this point I have Time kneeling before me massaging my feet, so you'll only have to wait minutes or days."

Suzuha just sat there in shock. She had no idea what to say.

"Now I'm running low on time, so I'll wrap up quickly. I hope you've enjoyed your time in the tail end of the second millennium, and I wanted to reassure you of two things.

One: I am the Okabe you knew. Reading Steiner made sure of that. Not the one you called Uncle in your home timeline, but the one who traded messages with your alias of John Titor. The one who introduced you to fireworks. You'll...you'll be remembered, is what I'm trying to say."

Suzuha shook, crying outright.

"Two: Well...you did it." Okabe's voice was proud. "The IBM made its way to us. We found a way to resolve the worldline without incidents, saved Mayuri and Makise, prevented a dystopia...We're in Steins;Gate; Suzuha. And it's all thanks to you."

There was a silence.

"Well, that's all from me. I mainly just felt that you should have some closure on the matter. Enjoy the others' messages, enjoy the rest of your life, and...relax. Mission complete, 006. El Psy Congroo."

"_*click*. End of message. Message -two-_"

Suzuha fell back onto her bed, tasting tears. She couldn't stop them falling any more than she could stop the ear-splitting grin on her face. Pulling the bedcovers over herself, she curled up into a ball, and let the rest of the messages play.

* * *

**I did not plan to make myself cry while I was writing this fic, but there you go. Feels happen. And with that final edition, this fic is completed. Short, sweet, and a fun ride, which is about what I planned for it to be.**

**If you want more anime from me, I have a Naruto fic coming close to completion (that one's a LOT longer than this). And after one week of break, the Skyrim fanfiction will be coming back off hiatus. Because more pressure on myself to write is just what I need...**

**If you enjoyed, have criticisms, questions, or just something fun to say, feel free to leave a review. Beyond that, I hope this was worth the time you spent reading it. See y'all! **


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